


Up In Arms

by smoll_ballerina



Category: PRISTIN (Band)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Smut, i'm kind of just winging this, maybe some more things in there, sugar mommy au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-05-20 21:35:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14902458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smoll_ballerina/pseuds/smoll_ballerina
Summary: Minkyebin Sugar Mommy Au





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Smut will come later. It'll be my first time writing it, but I'm going to try my best. I hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> Edit: So I know I said I was going to use the spelling Yaebin, but due to popular demand and some feedback from a few readers, I'm changing it to Yebin. Some people wanted me to change it because that's how it's spelled in the ship and I agree so that's the way I'm going to spell it from now on.

Yebin was late. Very late.

She knew this wasn’t going to leave a good first impression for the interviewer. It wasn’t her fault the bus didn't arrive on time. It also wasn’t her fault that the bus skipped the stop she needed, even after she pressed the button a dozen times.

So she was running as fast as her legs would take her. She reached the restaurant at 10:57, 3 minutes before her interview started. She stopped to see her reflection in the window, fixing her hair as much as possible and straightening out her clothes. She hesitated, looking at herself. She pulled at her shirt a little, taking in her outfit with disdain. Even the best clothes she owned couldn't be considered professional. She stuck out in a high class area like this. Jieqiong and Eunwoo offered to let her borrow some of their clothes, but she declined. She had been on her own for years now and had picked up a huge independency problem, having trouble accepting help even when she desperately needed it. Yebin may not have a lot of money, but she made do with what she did have. She took one last deep breath and walked in the building.

Black Widow was one of the highest ranking restaurants in Seoul. It seemed like only people who made 3 figures could afford to eat there. It hadn’t officially opened for the day so Yebin was greeted with employees bustling around for when they did open in a matter of minutes. No one was standing at the front podium so she walked past, scanning for someone who looked like they were in charge.

Her head turned at the sound of someone snapping, seeing a man at the corner of the bar with his head down, writing something in a binder with one hand, gesturing at her to come over with his other. She dug into her bag to pull out her resume, then fidgeted with her shirt one last time before making her way over to him.

“Kang Yebin?” the man asked, still not looking up at her.

“Yes.” She cringed a little at the harshness of her tone, knowing it was due to nerves.

The man stuck his hand out towards her. She paused for a moment before handing him her resume with both hands, flinching at the harshness he used to snatch it from her. He glanced at it, flicking through the pages with some interest. He still hadn’t looked at her. He placed it to the side and went back to whatever he was writing in his binder.

Yebin heard bustling behind her, seeing a few patrons had entered the restaurant. The staff seemed to come alive all at once, people coming out of doors from all ends of the establishment, moving about as they worked. She waited for the man to acknowledge her or even the interview itself. He sighed one last time before closing his binder. He finally raised his head to look at her, all words stopping as he gave a once over.

“Oh.” She could hear the distaste in his voice. “When your previous employer recommended you to me, I was expecting a lot more. While your resume does fit almost all of the criteria we look for, you just,” he looked her over once more, lip turned up. “-aren’t what we’re looking for right now.”

Yebin almost started crying. She knew she didn’t have a lot, but she didn’t expect to be insulted like this. He handed her resume back. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to be doing other things ,” he said as if the interview was a waste of his time. It almost couldn’t be considered an interview. He didn’t ask her any questions and brushed her off without a second thought.

She took back her papers and quickly bowed to him. “Thank you for your time. I hope the restaurant has good business today.” She flashed him a smile out of politeness, receiving a scowl in response. She looked down at her papers, wondering why they weren’t enough to get her the job. She turned towards the door, tears springing to her eyes. The restaurant had almost filled completely just in the few minutes it had been open. She ducked her head so no one could see the tears. She tried to tuck the papers in her bag as she approached the door, struggling to get them to fit. She gave up with a huff, just set on carrying them. She went to reach for the handle, only to collide with someone coming in.

Her resume flew out of her hands, as did the person’s phone. Yebin could only watch as the phone hit the ground, shattering the screen completely. She stared at the broken device, struggling to do more than apologize. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.” She finally looked to see who she ran into. She felt like it took an eternity to look at them, this woman was so tall.

She obviously a business woman. She wore black slacks, an off white button up, and a blazer that fit her perfectly. Her hand was still poised next to her ear, probably talking to someone as they collided. Finally she looked at Yebin still spouting apologies. “I’m so sorry. I can- I’m so sorry.” She shuffled around in her bag, pulling out a pen and a sticky note. “I can give you my number and you can call me and we can work something out so I can pay for a new one.” She bent down to pick it up, delicately holding it in fear of breaking it even more. She held it out to the woman who took it from her, their fingers brushing. The woman held the phone, pressing the power button to see if it worked, but the screen remained black. She chuckled slightly and pocketed it.

Yebin finished scribbling her number and tore the note, moving to hand it to the woman who was crouching to the ground. The woman stood, examining the papers in her hands. She looked up at Yebin to ask her about them taking the note from her as well. “Are these yours?” Yebin’s knees almost went weak at her voice. She looked at the papers in question, seeing her resume.

“Yeah. They are.” The woman nodded, still looking at them. Her eyebrow quirked at a few of the details on the resume.

“Were you applying here?” She asked as she handed the papers back. She stuck the note in the same pocket her phone was in.

Yebin’s head was reeling a little bit. She thought the stranger would be furious with her about breaking her phone, but she didn’t seem mad at all. She noticed the woman expecting an answer. “Yeah, I was.” At the quirked eyebrow she kept going. “It didn’t go very well.”

“I could tell by the tears, but I didn’t want to say anything.” Yebin’s hand shot to her face, feeling the tear tracks. Her face bloomed as she quickly wiped them away, feeling ashamed about crying in public. “If you don’t mind my asking, why weren’t you hired?” 

Yebin actually didn’t mind. Something about this gorgeous stranger made her feel so comfortable. She gestured to her outfit. “I don’t look like I belong here and the owner didn’t like that.” The woman’s brow creased, looking angry. Yebin expected her to feel that way about her irreparable phone, not this.

The woman gestured into the restaurant. “Come with me.” She held the door open for the two of them, placing a hand on Yebin’s back as she walked in. She kept it there as they approached the podium. The staff worker brightened up seeing the woman.

“Miss Kim! Your usual table again?” She had already grabbed a menu before the woman could answer.

“Make it for two. I have someone joining me today.” The worker bowed and walked off.

The hand on Yebin’s back guided her over toward the bar. The bartender smiled in greeting at the woman. At this point Yebin assumed she was well known by the workers there. “Hello Miss Kim. How can I help you?”

“Is Mr. Han here?” She was polite to the worker, but very assertive in her question.

“Yes. Do you want me to go get him for you?” The woman nodded tightly. She settled her elbows on the bar top, resting her weight on her arms.

Yebin wasn’t sure what to do, but she wanted to know what was happening. “What are you doing?”

The woman turned to her. “I saw your resume. If I had been interviewing you, I would have hired you on the spot. Your experience and the way you describe yourself is remarkable. I know the owner well and the way he runs this place. You’re exactly what he looks for in his employees, but he is well known for being a prick. He shouldn’t turn you away for how you look.” Yebin nodded, speechless. The woman leaned closer, speaking into her ear. “I think you look beautiful.” Yebin’s face bloomed once more. The woman laughed as she settled back into her own space. She then stuck a hand toward Yebin, “I’m Minkyung.”

Yebin reacted a little slow, causing more laughter from the woman. She recovered and took the outstretched hand. “I’m Kang Yebin.” Minkyung’s handshake lingered. “And I’m still really sorry about your phone.”

Minkyung brushed her off. “Don’t be. I was in the middle of an unpleasant conversation with my father. I’m glad you broke it honestly. Now I have an excuse to not speak to him for the rest of the day.” The didn’t really make Yebin feel better. “I’ll just go buy a new one after lunch.” Of course this woman has enough money to just buy a new phone like it was nothing.

“I’ll pay for it. I broke it so I should be the one to buy it.” Yebin hung her head in shame.

“I told you not to worry about it. I’m not angry and it doesn’t inconvenience me to purchase a new one,” Minkyung assured her.

“I still want to repay you somehow.” The guilt was eating at Yebin.

“If you really want to, you’ll just stand there and let me talk.” Yebin creased her eyebrows, confused at Minkyung’s words. She couldn’t voice her concerns when the man from earlier walked up to them.

“Minkyung! I heard you were looking for me.” The man greeted Minkyung with open arms, a much different change from when Yebin saw him earlier. He didn’t even seem to notice Yebin standing there next to her.

“Mr Han.” Minkyung gave a tight lipped smile.

“Is there anything I can help you with? Normally you’re sitting by now.” This man was beyond friendly with her.

“Actually I wanted to ask how your hiring process was going. I know you put a couple ads out and you’re looking for more seasonal hires.” Minkyung crossed her arms and looked at Mr. Han expectantly.

“I didn’t know you were concerned with those things. Very few people have responded and even fewer are being considered. There has yet to be someone who fits what we’re looking for.” Yebin shrunk a little hearing those words again.

“I heard you had an interview about 10 minutes ago. How did it go?” Yebin could feel Minkyung take the resume from her, but Mr Han didn’t notice.

He looked at Minkyung warily. “Word spreads fast around here. Let’s just say she wasn’t qualified enough for the job. Her references also didn’t check out.” Yebin looked up as her jaw dropped. He was lying to Minkyung.

Minkyung hummed. “Really?” Minkyung brought the resume up to read it. “Because her resume is remarkable. It covers everything you said you were looking for. And her main reference is one of your closest friends. In fact it says here he is recommending her to you. That’s not something I would put lightly.” She looked up from the papers, seeing Mr. Han looking shocked and ashamed. “Why didn’t you hire her Sung Soo?” She snapped the papers closed and folded them. He struggled to find words, mouth gasping like a fish. She cut him off when he started to speak. “Don’t say it was because she didn’t look the part. You run a restaurant, not a talent agency. You require your workers to wear a uniform anyway, so that part is covered. She’s perfect for the job and you know it.”

Minkyung turned to Yebin, pulling her forward so Mr. Han could finally see her. His eyes widened seeing them together. “Yebin don’t be too off put about what Mr. Han has said today. You might see him twice a year because he really only handles seasonal matters and the occasional hiring.” Yebin could only nod at her. Minkung turned to Mr. Han again. “Hire her. Lord knows you need people who actually do their job. And get rid of your prejudices about the way people look. You turn out to be lower than them with that mindset.”

The man clenched his jaw, face still burning. “Enjoy your lunch Miss Kim. I’ll have all the papers ready for her before you leave and handle all the things she’ll need.” He bowed his head at them before storming off.

Yebin was left almost speechless. “Did you just get me a job?”

Minkyung smiled as she handed the papers back to Yebin. “I did.”

The girl numbly took them. “Why?”

The taller woman looked confused. “I told you why. I would have hired you and he was an idiot for saying those things about you.”

“Yes but we’re strangers. I broke your phone and you decided to help me get a job? That doesn’t-” Yebin couldn’t wrap her head around the events that just took place.

“I told you I’m not mad about the phone. I’m actually grateful you broke it. I helped you because I wanted to, not because I needed to.” That didn’t make Yebin feel any better, but she knew that continuing to argue about it was pointless. Minkyung clasped her hands in front of her. “Now I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Would you like to have lunch with me?”

“Aren’t you meeting someone?” Yebin remembered the woman asking for a table for two to be set up.

“Yes. You, if you want?” Yebin took this moment to really take in the restaurant. The people there all looked like millionaires. The interior probably cost more than what most banks keep in their vaults. She knew she couldn’t afford to order a water, let alone food. “Because I am inviting you to lunch, I’ll pay for your meal.” She gave Yebin looking meaning she wouldn’t argue about it, and that her word was final. 

Minkyung was perfectly chivalrous, pulling Yebin’s chair out for her and making sure she was comfortable. She was very friendly to the staff, knowing them all by name and treating them with respect, something many of the other patrons were severely lacking. Yebin tried to be conscious of what she was ordering, still wary about the cost, but the menu didn’t have prices on it. It was easy talking with Minkyung, and she found herself laughing through most of lunch. Minkyung didn’t hesitate to pick up the bill, barely sparing a glance at the total before handing it off to the server.

On their way to the door, a hostess stopped them, handing Yebin all the forms she’d need to fill out. She’d have to buy her own uniform, something she was worried about. She didn’t have enough money to buy the shirt and pants. She tried to hide her worry from Minkyung.

Before they made it out the door, Minkyung hollered at one of the workers. “Sungyeon!” She waved the girl over when she got her attention. She came almost bouncing over to the duo.

“What’s up?” Yebin had a strong urge to pull at the girl’s cheeks, but she held herself back. Minkyung however, did not.

“Where did you get your uniform from?” the woman asked, pulling on the worker’s cheek.

Sungyeon swatted her hand away with a huff so she could answer. “The shop on 5th and 10th. It’s where most of us got ours from. Why?”

Minkyung gestured to Yebin. “This is Yebin. She got hired today and needs to get the uniform. She starts in about a week and you’re probably going to be the one to train her. They give you too much responsibility around here and are probably going to dump her on you too.” Minkyung smiled at Yebin, letting her know she was joking. Yebin lost her breath every time the woman smiled at her.

The two girls greeted each other. “It’s nice to meet you. Welcome to Black Widow.” The girl’s smile was infectious. “I really wish I could talk more but I need to get back to work. It was really nice meeting you.” With that the girl was off, leaving Minkyung and Yebin standing by the door.

They made their way out, lingering on the busy street. Minkyung broke their silence. “Well I suppose I should go get a new phone before I go back to work.” Yebin took that as a sign to part ways. She bowed, not knowing what to say in farewell. Minkyung spoke up before she could turn away. “Would you like to come with me?” Yebin froze a little as Minkyung kept speaking. “I know it’s one thing to sit in a restaurant with me, but I can’t help but want to spend a little more time with you.” Yebin blushed, feeling her face burning. The taller woman just chuckled at her softly. “My office is just a couple blocks over and there’s a phone store on the way. Unless it inconveniences you. You probably have things to do.”

“No! I’d lov- I’d like to. I don’t have anything else to do.” Minkyung smiled wide at the girl, causing her to blush even more. They started their way down the street, reaching the store in a matter of minutes. 

Yebin let Minkyung deal with the purchase, instead going around and playing with all the new phones. She couldn’t afford a smartphone and had a flip phone that was about 8 years old. She felt like a child, playing with a new toy with excitement only felt on Christmas. She was playing with the filters on a camera app when she heard soft laughter behind her. She turned to see Minkyung right behind her, peeking over her shoulder to see what she was doing. “Having fun?” the taller woman teased.

Yebin could feel her blush coming back, a little ashamed at getting caught. Minkyung smiled widely, chuckling at the smaller girl. Yebin closed out of the app she was using and left the screen on for the next person to come and play with it. “I don’t have one and I wanted to play around a little. Did you get everything done?”

Minkyung looked at her questioningly. “You don’t have a phone?”

Yebin felt a little ridiculous pulling out her phone to show the woman. “No I do, just not a smartphone.”

Minkyung’s face lit up. “I had that exact same phone when I was younger! My parents bought me and my brother matching phones. I remember being really excited to get it because it was my first phone.” Yebin felt a little less ridiculous after that, but still ashamed in herself. She had the same phone now that Minkyung had as a child.

She pocketed her phone. “It was my first phone too. I’ve had it since the day I got it.” She belittled herself for letting that slip. She cleared her throat to get rid of her awkwardness. “Did you get everything done?”

Minkyung nodded, holding out a brand new model of the phone she broke earlier. “Maybe this time I’ll buy a case for it.”

They were outside the store now, lingering again on the street. Minkyung had to get back to work and Yebin needed to get home. “I don’t know how to thank you enough. For everything that you’ve done today,” Yebin said, grateful.

“I told you already, I wanted to help you.” Minkyung looked and sounded so sincere.

Yebin scoffed lightly. “Yeah but getting me a job? Buying me lunch? You didn’t have to do any of that especially after I broke your phone and you had to spend almost a thousand dollars to get a new one.”

Minkyung narrowed her eyebrows a little. “You’re very cost conscious, aren’t you?”

Yebin could tell she wasn’t trying to pry or offend, just make a statement. She shrugged one shoulder. “I kind of have to be.”

Minkyung just nodded. She then reached into her blazer, pulling a card out from the pocket inside. She handed it to Yebin. “Call me when you get a chance. I’d really like if you stopped by at the office some day before you start work. I’d love to see you again.” Yebin took it from her, blush spreading fast again. She didn’t get a chance to reply, only watching Minkyung’s back as she walked away.

Yebin stopped and put the number in her phone, making sure she had it saved in case she lost the card. She wasn’t risking not being able to contact the taller woman again. She spent the entire bus ride home thinking about everything Minkyung did for her. Any sane person would have been furious with her for breaking their phone, but Minkyung never once showed that she was upset. Maybe it was because she had enough money to just buy a new one whenever, but it would have still been appropriate for Minkyung to be annoyed at her.

There was something about Minkyung, something she couldn’t figure out. She wanted to learn more about her. Besides being extremely attractive, she was so kind to Yebin, something she wasn’t used to. That’s not to say people were rude to her, but they often put her down for not having as much money. Minkyung didn’t do that. Minkyung took care of her that day, and she liked it.

A lot.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. Hope you guys enjoy ^-^

Yebin stared at the number in her phone, debating if she should call it or not. On one hand she really wanted to see Minkyung again, but on the other she was worried that the woman had an ulterior motive. She closed her phone tossing it beside her as she had on repeat the entire day. Minkyung asked her to call her before she started work, which was in less than a week. She needed to call her now if she were to meet the older’s wishes.

Jieqiong and Eunwoo weren’t helping though.

“Just call her. What’s the big deal? She asked to see you again.” The three of them were squished together on Yebin’s cramped couch, watching some drama Jieqiong was currently obsessed with.

“It’s a big deal Eunwoo. She’s so-” Yebin paused trying to think of the right word. “-refined. And I’m just me. Plus after all the things she did for me, isn’t that kind of a little sketchy?”

“If some hot woman in a business suit came in like that, got me a job, bought me lunch, and said she was interested in seeing me again, I’d be greeting her with open arms and open legs,” Jieqiong said, eyes glued to the tv as she shoved snacks in her mouth.

Yebin rolled her eyes at her friend as Eunwoo lost it. “I just don’t want to overstep. What if she’s busy? I don’t want to interrupt anything.”

“Then you’ll leave a message and she’ll get back to you. There’s no reason for you not to call her. If you don’t, I will.” Yebin threw the blanket she was using over Eunwoo’s face and walked into her bedroom for some privacy, knowing it wouldn’t do much good with the eavesdroppers she has as friends. She sat on her bed with her phone in her hand again. She took a few deep breaths before finally hitting the call button. She chewed on her lip almost regretting her action immediately. The phone didn’t ring for very long before it was answered.

“I was starting to worry you weren’t going to call.” If Yebin wasn’t sitting already, she knew her knees would have given out on her. Minkyung’s voice was almost more attractive over the phone.

“How did you know it was me?” Yebin brought a leg up, wrapping her arm around it. She knew Minkyung couldn’t see her, but buried her face in her knee in embarrassment.

Minkyung chuckled at her, the sound bringing a small smile to Yebin’s lips. “You gave me your number too. I saved it in my phone so I knew it would be you when you called. I wouldn’t want to not answer for you.” Yebin’s breath hitched at her words, something the older woman picked up on. “Anyway I’m really glad you called. Are you free later today? Around 6:00?”

Yebin thought to herself about her plans later, realizing the two people occupying her couch were her plans for today. She could always hang out with them later, though. “Yeah I’m free.”

“Perfect!” She could hear the excitement in Minkyung’s voice. “I want you stop by my office if that’s ok with you.”

Yebin froze a little, chewing on her thumb more aggressively. She thought to herself a little before answering. “Yeah I can come by.”

“Are you sure?” She could hear the worry in the woman’s voice this time. “You sound a little hesitant. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“No! No, you’re not making me uncomfortable I promise. I’ll be there. Wherever there is.” Minkyung chuckled at her words, easing her stress more and more.

“The address is on the card I gave you. Do you still have it?” Yebin shot off her bed, searching her room for the card she was given. She rummaged through her desk hoping she put it somewhere obvious. When she couldn’t find it, she started to panic. Minkyung could hear her movements through the phone. “Is everything ok?” Yebin finally fished it out of her jacket pocket.

“Yes!” She flinched at the loudness of her voice. “Yes. Sorry. Everything’s ok.”

Minkyung chuckled fondly. “Did you lose it?”

“No.” Yebin could hear the defensiveness in her voice. “I just thought I did.”

Minkyung laughed, unabashed. “Ok well, I can’t wait to see you later. Just tell the front desk you’re looking for me and they’ll tell you where to go.” Yebin’s face bloomed at that. “I’ve got to get back to work now. Thanks for calling. It was really great to hear your voice again.” Yebin only choked out a goodbye before they hung up.

The other two burst into her room then. “We heard what you said. Fill us in.” Yebin’s blush didn’t go away the entire time she explained the conversation to her friends. With their teasing, it only made it worse.

“We’ve got to make you look cute.” Yaebin sat and watched as her friends raided her closet. Even with all of her clothes in it, it was only about one third full. She flinched as a hoodie hit her face, followed quickly by the only pair of skinny jeans she owned. “Put those on.” Jieqiong said after throwing the clothes at her.

Yebin didn’t care about them still being in the room, taking off her clothes and putting on the ones her friends picked out. The hoodie was yellow and about two sizes too big. The jeans were a light wash and fit like a second skin. They were her favorite pair and she only wore them on special occasions. She could count this as a special occasion.

She checked the time, seeing she had a little over an hour left before 6:00. “Could one of you look up this address on your phone?” she asked holding the card out. Both of them pulled out their phones at Yebin’s request. They looked at the maps, finding the best route there. It took about 45 minutes to get there by bus so Yebin picked the best time to leave.

“She works for an arms dealer?” Yebin and Jieqiong froze at Eunwoo’s words. It was silent for a bit as she scrolled through the info on her phone. “Oh wait, no. Well yes, but not in the bad way. She works for a company called Pledis. They are the military’s main supply of firearms.” She added after a beat, “That’s hot.”

“Back off,” Yebin found herself saying before she could stop herself. Her face grew red at the looks her friends gave her.

“Excuse me, then. I wouldn’t want to get in your way.” Yebin threw a pillow at Eunwoo.

“You should go so you’re not late.” Jieqiong and Eunwoo were already back on the couch, watching the same drama from earlier.

“Expect us to still be here when you get back,” Eunwoo called out to her as Yebin closed the door behind her on her way out.

Yebin spent the whole bus ride panicking. She knew she didn’t look her best, but her friends helped her and told her she looked cute so that helped her nerves a little. The bus took a little longer with the evening traffic, but she still made it to the correct stop with enough time to spare. She kept her eyes on the buildings, looking for the one she needed. She didn’t have to walk far from the bus stop, seeing the bright orange letters at the top of the building proudly displaying the name. A large sign resembling the one on the building and fountain in front guided her to the front doors.

She glanced at herself in the reflection of the glass, adjusting her hair a little and re-rolling the sleeves of her hoodie. She reached for the door and pushed on the handle, only to slam into the door. She tried pushing again, before pulling. Her face bloomed at her mistake, glancing around to see if anyone noticed her mistake. To her luck, no one paid any attention to her. Yebin stood in the front lobby, feeling smaller than she ever had. Everything looked so professional and expensive. She didn’t want to even walk near the furniture in case she ruined it. She looked for the desk, finding it against the far wall next to more elevators than she thought a building needed. She walked up to it, seeing a young man typing away at something on his computer. “Excuse m-” He held a hand up, interrupting her.

She patiently waited for him to finish, but he didn’t seem to want to give her any of his attention. It was a moment before he finally spoke, still typing. “Yes?”

Yebin wondered if he always sounded that annoyed. “Um, I’m looking for Kim Minkyung.”

He stopped typing, slowly turning his eyes to her. They narrowed as he looked at her appearance, not hiding the sneer on his face. He turned back to his screen and spoke. “Unless you have an appointment with her, which I highly doubt you do, you will not be able to see her. Do you have an appointment?”

Yebin shrunk a little, not realizing it was going to be this hard. She looked around the lobby again, seeing some employees lingering there. She wondered what Minkyung’s job was that she wasn’t able to just see her. She turned back to the man, fiddling with her hands. “No I don’t have an appointment. She asked me to come by and see her, though.”

The man chuckled in disbelief. “I’m sure she did,” he said with sarcasm dripping. “I don’t have time for this. I am a very busy person so if you don’t leave now, I’m going to call security to escort you out.” He was back to typing again.

Yebin was at her last resort, afraid of being dragged out. “My name is Kang Yebin. Minkyung asked me to come by at 6:00 because she wanted to see me.”

The man stopped typing immediately, staring at something just above his screen. He then sighed and closed his eyes in exasperation. “You’re Kang Yebin?” She nodded quickly. “I’m going to need some photo ID please.” He held his hand expectantly.

Yebin fumbled to pull her wallet from her pocket. She managed to pull her ID out, giving it to the man. He snatched it from her and examined it. He sighed once more before throwing it back at her. He stood abruptly and grabbed a lanyard with a card dangling from the bottom. He started for the elevators, exclaiming over his shoulder. “I don’t have all day. Follow me.” Yebin bent to pick up her ID from the ground, having trouble grabbing it. She rushed after him, making it onto the elevator just before the doors closed.

The man waved the card in front of a sensor, ignoring the many buttons on the panel. No number was indicated, so Yebin has no idea what floor they were going to. The music in the small space did nothing to help the tension she could feel from the man. He kept looking her up and down, obviously judging her. He shook his head a few times in disbelief. He seemed very impatient, grumbling about the elevator taking too long. When it stopped, he took off. Yebin was almost jogging to keep up with him. 

They turned a corner and she could see several glass walled offices. In the large open space there were a few desks scattered here and there. Phones rang constantly and people bustled about. She did her best to stay right behind the man, but as he walked through an intersection of desks, someone collided with her left side. Before she could start to apologize, they spoke.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry. Are you ok?” A woman was looking down at her with eyes full of worry. Yebin’s words froze on the tip of her tongue. She was expecting the woman to yell at her and treat her like dirt. They collided hard enough to send Yebin to the ground, but the woman was fast enough to brace her by the arms. “I wasn’t paying any attention I’m so sorry. I’m in a big rush.” The woman steadied Yebin, making sure she was ok before walking around her. She spoke over her shoulder. “I’m sorry again but I really have to go. You’re ok, right?” Yebin just smiled and gave her a thumbs up. The woman smiled and repeated the actions before turning and walking away.

The man was almost out of Yebin’s sight. He hadn’t stopped when she crashed into the tall woman, instead continuing on like nothing happened. She ran after him to catch up, noticing she had to run past the woman she just ran into. She heard her laughing behind her. It calmed her down a little, relaxing her nerves. She caught up to him just as he stopped in front of a desk. Behind it was an glass office like all the others, but the blinds were pulled down for privacy. She could see in the doors, but couldn’t see anyone in there from that angle.

A young woman was sitting at the large desk. She looked up from her work immediately as they approached. She smiled sweetly to Yebin, quickly dropping it, however, when she turned to the man. “How can I help you Wonwoo?’ she asked tensely.

Wonwoo just waved Yebin towards the woman and walked away, having finished his job of escorting her. Yebin saw a name plate on her desk. Kim Yewon. Yewon looked so much more friendly than Wonwoo and she’d only seen her for about 10 seconds. “My name is Kang Yebin. Minkyung asked me to come by today.” She could see the clock on Yewon’s desk read 5:59, perfectly on time.

Yewon lit up even more, if at all possible. “Miss Kim did mention you. I know Wonwoo brought you up and probably made you do the same thing, but I’m going to need some photo ID please.” Yebin dug her card back out, handing it to Yewon. She took it and opened something on her computer, typing her information into some template. Yewon handed it back when she was done. “Thank you. I’ll let her know you’re here.” Yebin just nodded as Yewon pressed a button on her phone.

After a few seconds, Minkyung’s voice flowed out of the speaker. “Yes?”

“Miss Kang is here to see you.” Yewon spoke, trying to hide the smile forming on her face.

Minkyung didn’t even answer, instead appearing in the now open doorway in a matter of seconds with a splitting smile on her face. “Hi!” She had her hand on the door handle, holding it open as she stepped toward the two.

Yebin couldn’t help the smile that grew on her face either. She responded shyly. “Hi.”

Minkyung held a hand out to her. “Come in.” Yebin start to move toward her as Minkyung spoke to Yewon. “Work on getting her a card please?”

Yewon just smiled sweetly at Minkyung. “Already sent the forms in.”

Yebin reached Minkyung, just standing in front of her, not really knowing what to do. “You’re the best Yewon.”

Yewon leant forward then, looking at something in the distance. She leaned back and sighed. “Incoming.”

Yebin didn’t get a moment to process Yewon’s words when Minkyung pulled her forcefully into her by the waist as someone rushed past. Yebin was flush against Minkyung’s front but could turn and see that the woman from earlier had sprinted behind Yewon’s desk, grabbing a pile of files there before leaving just as quickly.

“Walk Kyungwon!” Minkyung yelled, arm still holding Yebin in place. She thought she felt the woman tighten her hold on her, but she wasn’t sure.

“I’m going to be late Minky!” Kyungwon yelled, jogging backwards.

“You’re always late!” Kyungwon just laughed at her before turning down a hallway, out of sight. Minkyung looked down at Yebin. “Are you ok?” Yebin just nodded shyly, seeing just how close they were. Minkyung looked at Yebin softly. “Ok. Sorry about Kyungwon. She’s kind of a mess,” the woman said, separating from Yebin and pulling her into the office.

Yebin stopped as she took in Minkyung’s office. On the far wall was floor to ceiling windows, overlooking the city. A U-shaped office desk sat toward the left side of the office, but not against the wall. A few chairs sat in front of it for when people needed to meet with Minkyung. Toward the back of the room on the right wall was a door; Yebin wasn’t quite sure what was behind it. Two couches sat facing each other on the right wall, one with the back flush to the wall. Above it was a painting definitely taller than even Minkyung. Closer to the door on the left was a bar. She could see plenty of glass of different size and shapes, and a large amount of varying types of alcohol. Underneath it were two smaller fridges, no doubt also stocked with more alcohol.

“Do you want anything to drink?” Yebin was startled out of her thoughts to see Minkyung standing next her.

“Uh, a water please.”

Minkyung bent down to the fridge on the right, pulling out a few bottles. She set them on the bar before handing one of them to Yebin. “In case you need more than one. Just help yourself.”

Yebin sipped at the water as she really observed Minkyung. The woman was wearing another suit, but the jacket was draped across her chair. The shirt was white, but looser than a typical button. It looked softer too, Yebin wanted to reach out and feel it. Her black slacks were tighter this time, only barely flaring at the ankle. She wore flats, but still towered over Yebin. She finally spoke, realizing at Minkyung’s smirk that she’d been essentially checking her out. “Is this your office?”

Minkyung laughed as she rocked on her heels. She actually looked a little flustered. “It is, yes.” Yebin was still in awe of everything she was seeing. “Did you have any trouble getting up here?”

“The man who works the front desk was a little-” Yebin didn’t want to offend anyone by saying the wrong thing.

“Cold? Rude? Kind of a douche?” Yebin nodded her head slightly after a few seconds. “Wonwoo can be a lot to deal with. His dad was one of the company’s largest benefactors when it was first getting started. Wonwoo was hired because we had no other choice. He was my assistant when he first started, but I hired Yewon when I got promoted. He’s a little upset about that, but he’s always had a horrible attitude and personality. He didn’t give you a hard time, did he?” The taller woman looked at Yebin with such genuine concern.

“He was a little rude. He almost called security on me because he didn’t believe me when I said you asked me to come by. But I don’t really look like I belong here either so I understand him.” She looked down at her shoes in shame, finding another hole in them that wasn’t there earlier. She really needed new ones.

Minkyung actually looked angry. “I’ll talk to him about that. He shouldn’t have treated you that way. If anyone has a problem with how you look I want you to tell me. I think you look perfect. And after today you shouldn’t have to deal with him. I’m going to get you a card so you can come up any time you want. If that’s ok with you,” she added in a rush, suddenly feeling like she was overstepping.

“You want me to come back?” Yebin asked, fiddling with the label on her water. She didn’t miss the complement Minkyung slipped in there, but she wasn’t going to be the one to acknowledge it.

Minkyung took a few steps closer, eyes never breaking their hold on Yebin’s. “I’d love for you to come back.”

Yebin’s face bloomed at her words. “So what is it you do?” she asked, needing to change the topic.

Minkyung crossed her arms. “I sign papers all day and listen to old men tell me I don’t know enough to do my job, when I know more than they do.” Yebin giggled at her answer. “I sit at my desk and answer phones and try not to strangle the people who come to me and try to tell me how to do my job.”

Yebin took all of that, trying still to figure out what exactly Minkyung does. “So I guess you’re pretty important to the company?” She opened her water to take another drink.

Minkyung laughed loudly, tucking her chin to her chest as she shook her head at Yebin. “Yeah I guess you could call being the CEO important,” she said looking back at Yebin, an amused smile on her face.

Yebin choked on the liquid, coughing harshly. Minkyung rushed to her, rubbing her back as she tried to get air in her lungs. She looked at Minkyung incredulously. “You’re the CEO of some really rich company and you did all those things to help me?” She sobered up quickly. “Oh my god I broke your phone,” she said more to herself than to Minkyung.

“I didn’t want to just tell you and look like a conceited douche. It never really came up in conversation.”

Yebin started laying soft punches on Minkyung’s arm. “I hate you.” They just laughed with each other. Minkyung playfully blocked some of the hits, but let Yebin hit her as much as she wanted to.

When Yebin stopped, Minkyung spoke. “What, did you think just because I’m a CEO that I wouldn’t have treated you the way I did?”

“I don’t know. Rich people can be really rude to people who don’t make as much money as them. They think they’re better than everyone else.” Minkyung steeled herself at Yebin’s words.

“I really hope you can see by now that I’m not like those people. I didn’t want you to think I was doing it for my own gain. It’s hard for people to believe I want to be kind because that’s who I am and not for the sake of the company.” Yebin could tell there was something underneath Minkyung’s words, but she didn’t want pry. “I do have a few things for you,” the woman said suddenly, walking over to the door at the back of her office.

Yebin followed when she gestured her to. “Please don’t tell me you got me more stuff.”

Minkyung turned to press her back against the door, pulling the handle. “I’d be lying if I said that.” She opened the door for Yebin to walk in the room. It was a conference room. Along the wall to her left was a rack of white shirts. Next to it was a rack of black pants. Five piles of shoe boxes sat near the middle of the table. On the end closest to the racks were four smaller boxes. Yebin turned to look at Minkyung questioningly. “The store Black Widow requires it’s employees to get their uniforms from is ridiculously expensive. For just needing a white button up and black pants, you’re spending $200 for one of each. I got a bunch of sizes so you could figure out which fit best. They’re yours to keep once you find the ones you like. There are a few different pairs of shoes to choose from. On the end of the shirt rack are three black ties.”

Yebin could feel tears coming to her eyes, but she did her best to keep them at bay to not cry in front of Minkyung. “You didn’t have to do this. I could have gotten the uniform on my own.”

“I know. I don’t doubt that. I just thought I’d do this for you, not because you needed it, but because I wanted to.” Yebin turned to look at Minkyung, mouthing a watery thank you. “Along with the uniform, there’s something else I got you.” Minkyung pointed to the small boxes.

Yebin stepped up to them and almost yelled at the woman when she realized what they were. Four brand new LG G7’s sat on the table. “You-”

“No arguing. I didn’t know what color you wanted, so I’m giving you the option to pick it yourself.” Minkyung leaned against the wall, hands in her pockets.

“Minkyung these are cell phones. Very expensive cell phones. I can’t take one.” Yebin was almost panicking thinking of owning one of the phones on the table.

“Yes you can. Smartphones are handy. It’s convenient for you now that you have the job that you do. And you can text so it’ll be a lot easier to get in touch with people. No one wants to call each other anymore,” Minkyung said like it was the easiest thing in the world. Yebin knew the benefits of owning a smartphone. The little marketing pitch she was just given made her laugh a little knowing the woman was doing it to help her nerves. She did admit it made her feel a little better. “I’ll let you try the clothes on.” Minkyung walked out and closed the door behind her.

Yebin felt a little awkward changing in the conference room. She slowly flipped through the racks of shirts, not really wanting to even try them on. She pulled a price tag up to see just how expensive it was. Her eyes widened seeing the shirt alone could pay her rent for two weeks. She browsed the rack, ignoring the ones that weren’t her size. There were a few fits to choose from, some of the shirts were tailored to fit a woman’s body and others were just generic button ups. She didn’t want the more form fitting ones so she pulled one of the regular ones off the hanger. She turned to the door, making sure it was closed before starting the change. She slipped her hoodie off and tossed it onto the table. She slipped the shirt over her shoulders, walking over to the rack of pants as she buttoned it. The shirt was a good fit and she didn’t see any problem with the way it felt.

The pants were all the same pair of basic looking black slacks. She had to try on a few pairs because some were too long or too wide at the waist. She found a pair that fit perfectly, setting aside the few other pairs of the same size. She tucked her shirt into her pants as she browsed the through the shoes.

There were two different pairs of shiny dress shoes, one pair of black canvas shoes, and two professional looking pairs of black tennis shoes. Each shoe had 5 different sizes of shoes to choose from, including her size. She ignored the tennis shoes, not liking how they looked. She tried on the canvas shoes, liking how comfortable they were. She set that box aside and tried one of the dress shoes. She couldn’t see what the difference between the two were, but the boxes were different. She would have to get used to how they felt, but they completed the look of the outfit well. She looked down, seeing her bright socks contrasting with the rest of the outfit, giggling to herself a bit.

She walked over to the shirt rack, seeing the ties Minkyung mentioned. She took one off, holding it awkwardly. She didn’t know how to tie a tie. She debated for a second about asking Minkyung before deciding that was the best choice.

Yebin carefully opened to the door back into the office. Minkyung was sitting at her desk typing something on her computer. She turned at the sound of Yebin walking out. Her hands paused on the keyboard as her eyes roamed the shorter girl’s outfit. Even from that distance, Yebin could see something behind Minkyung’s eyes.

Minkyung noticed the tie in Yebin’s hands. “Need some help?” she asked while standing up. At Yebin’s nod she reached out to take it from the girl. “Come here.” She guided Yebin to stand in front of her. “Watch what I do. It’s simple.”

Yebin couldn’t focus on the tie with Minkyung standing so close. The taller woman wrapped the tie around her neck, adjusting it so it was under the collar. She carefully pulled on one side so it was longer than the other. “You want the thicker side to be longer than the thinner one.” Minkyung looked up at Yebin, seeing she was looking right at her. “Yebin you need to watch the tie, not me.” Yebin blushed at getting caught, but she couldn’t help herself. She reluctantly looked back down, only to look right back up at Minkyung. The taller woman laughed. “The tie Yebin,” she said as she took a step closer, doing nothing to help Yebin’s case.

The girl finally managed to focus on the tie, watching as Minkyung worked at an excruciating slow pace. She wrapped the thicker part around the thinner one, bringing it up and through the opening after the second time. She slipped the larger part through the band she created and pulled it tight. She then grabbed the knot with one hand and the skinnier part underneath and pulled the knot up to Yebin’s chin, running a hand down the tie to smooth it, lingering at the bottom. “See?” she asked, waiting for Yebin to look back up. “Easy.” There was minimal space left between them, making Yebin’s heavy breathing obvious to the older woman.

Yebin just nodded, a little dazed. She mumbled a thank you as she fidgeted with the tie. “Do you need me to show you again?” Yebin nodded eagerly.

Minkyung lightly chuckled as she undid the tie, slipping it off completely. She gathered it again and slipped it back on Yebin’s shoulders. She seemed to be moving slower than the first time. She didn’t manage to get the tie in place before the doors to her office burst open.

“Minky!” Both of them turned to see the intruder. Minkyung sighed seeing who it was. The young girl stopped suddenly, looking between the two who hadn’t moved. “Am I interrupting something?”

Minkyung took a step back from Yebin as the shorter girl blushed from getting caught in that situation. “What do you want Siyeon?” She was obviously annoyed at being interrupted.

“Can’t I just stop by and see my favorite unnie?” Siyeon asked with a cheeky smile on her face.

“You and I both know your favorite is Kyungwon. Why are you here?”

Siyeon deflated a little. She reached in the messenger bag she was carrying and pulled out a packet of papers, handing them to Minkyung. Minkyung leaned against her desk as she flipped through them.

Yebin felt a little awkward standing there, like she was seeing something she wasn’t supposed to. Siyeon wasn’t helping by just staring at her either. Minkyung seemed to notice the tension. Not lifting her head from the papers she was reading, “Siyeon this is Yebin. Yebin this the Devil Incarnate.” She gestured to each in turn.

“Hey! Only Kyungwon can call me that.”

Minkyung hummed in response. She skimmed the rest of the papers before nodding, handing them back to Siyeon. “You made me sound like a much better person than I actually am.”

“Did I get the quotes right?” the girl asked as she carefully placed the papers back in her bag.

“Yeah everything looks good. If you don’t get an A then I guess I’m not the great of a person.”

“You’re really not.”

“Alright you little shit. Go home,” the woman said, shoving the girl towards the door.

“It was nice to kind of meet you,” Siyeon said, waving at Yebin. She waved back as the girl walked out of the office.

“She seems nice,” Yebin observed.

“She’s a pain in my ass is what she is. But she’s a good kid.” Minkyung leaned back against her desk.

“She seems really young.” Yebin hadn’t stopped fidgeting with the tie this whole time.

“She’s 17. She’s writing a paper for her journalism class about me. A mock interview of someone they know that works in a company of the student’s choosing. She just happens to know the youngest CEO in Seoul personally. I just hope her classmates don’t give her any trouble when she has to present it.”

“How old does this CEO happen to be?” Yebin looked down, too shy to look at the woman.

“I’ll be 25 next month,” Minkyung responded gently.

Yebin snapped her head back up, brow furrowed. “That’s so young. How did you manage that?”

Minkyung chuckled, but no humor was present. “I inherited it after my dad stepped down. My brother was supposed to take over, but he manages the US branch instead. So here I am. I don’t mind it. I always caught on really well to business management and I know how to run a company. Not to brag but I’d say I’m pretty good at it.” They both chuckled lightly at that. “How old are you?” Minkyung asked after a breath.

“I’m 19.”

Minkyung shifted awkwardly. “I hope I haven’t been making you uncomfortable. I didn’t realize how young you were.”

Yebin was quick to reassure the taller woman. “No not at all. I’m not that young. You’re not making me uncomfortable.”

Minkyung nodded at the younger’s words. “Did you pick a phone?” she asked after a breath.

“I did my best to ignore them, actually. That’s a lot of money spent on them, too much for me to accept.” 

“Yebin please, it’s not a problem for me. Just pick the one you like the most and it’s yours.” Minkyung wasn’t going to just let this go.

Yebin chewed the inside of her cheek. She looked down, ashamed of herself. “I can’t pay a phone bill for a phone like that. At least not yet.”

“Oh.” Minkyung sounded genuinely shocked. “Well I was planning on paying for it anyway.”

Yebin snapped her head up. “Minkyung! You can’t just be doing all of these things!” she felt angry at the woman.

“Why not? I don’t have any problem doing all of this. I want to do this for you.”

“We don’t know each other. We’re still practically strangers. Why do you want to help me so badly?” Yebin was close to tears in frustration. She was scared that Minkyung had some reason for doing this, and not just because she wanted to.

Minkyung was silent for a minute before extending an arm out to Yebin. “Come here, please?” Yebin didn’t move, but the pleading in Minkyung’s eyes made her relent. Minkyung adjusted herself on her desk, sitting more firmly. When Yebin got close enough, she lightly grabbed her hand, checking to see that the younger girl was ok with the contact. She pulled the girl in front of her, having her stand between her legs. “Please just listen to me. If you don’t like what I have to say than I will let you walk away and I won’t bother you anymore. Ok?” When Yebin agreed she grabbed her other hand, holding both of them as she spoke. “I never wanted to put the kind of pressure on you that you think I have. I get this may seem strange. I have more money than I know what to do with. All of the things I’ve done and the things I’ve given you don’t hinder me in any way. I want to help you, even if you think you don’t need it or deserve it. I don’t have a reason or a motive for any of this; I don’t expect anything in return. You have a job now and soon you’re going to have money of your own. I mean this with no offense, but until that point I’d like to be able to take care of you. It’s not such a bad thing being spoiled like this, is it?” Yebin ducked her head to try and hide the smile forming, but Minkyung could still see it. “So you’re going to take as many uniforms as you want, you’re going to take as many shoes as you want, and you’re going to pick the phone you want, and then I’m going to take you to get it activated. After that you can choose to never see me again if you want.”

Yebin still had her head ducked. “I don’t want to walk away. I want to see you again,” she mumbled.

Minkyung smiled brightly. “I was hoping you’d say that.” Yebin glanced up at her, smiling with her. Minkyung stood, putting one hand on Yebin’s waist. “Come on.” She led the two of them back into the conference room. They worked together to gather the uniforms and shoes Yebin chose.

The younger girl stood at the edge, looking at the different phones. “This one,” she said picking up the turquoise one. Minkyung took it from her, placing it with the rest of the things she was going to take with her. She gathered the other three and walked out, giving Yebin the room to change back into her street clothes.

Yebin walked out a couple minutes later, carrying the piles of clothes on top of the shoe boxes she was going to take. She was struggling a bit with the tall stack. She didn’t see Minkyung so much as hear her chuckling as she approached, taking the stack from her. The older woman pulled a garment bag seemingly out of nowhere and hung up the outfits, zipping it when she was done. One pair of shoes fit in the back compartment, but the other one needed to be carried.

“Ready?” Minkyung asked, pulling her jacket on over her shoulders. Yebin was going to wind up dead with how attractive the older woman looked doing the most mundane of tasks. Minkyung slung the bag over her shoulder, much to Yebin’s protest. Yebin picked up the other box of shoes after double checking that she had all of her belongings. They left the office, offering a quick goodbye to Yewon.

“You can leave early if you want Yewon. I won’t be back for the rest of the night.” Yewon lit up and immediately starting to gather her things. “Oh before you go, can you ask Kyungwon to send me the files she put together for the meeting with Miss Im tomorrow?” At the confirmation from her secretary, she thanked her and guided Yebin back towards the elevators. The ride down was silent but comfortable. They walked through the lobby receiving bows from some of the employees who worked there. Minkyung politely smiled at all of them, but kept her focus on exiting the building.

Minkyung took her to the same phone shop as last time. All Yebin had to do was hand her phone over to the worker and let Minkyung do the rest. The process of transferring everything over only took a few minutes because all she had were contacts; she didn’t have to worry about any photos or saved data. Minkyung returned the other three phones, getting her money back for them. She let Yebin pick a case out, smiling at the way the younger girl lit up at the baby pink case she picked. It almost seemed like Yebin was starting to accept being pampered.

They didn’t linger in the store and left as soon as they were done. The slowly headed back to the bus stop Yebin got off at, neither one of them wanting to rush their goodbyes.

“How long is your bus ride?”

“Not too long. About 45 minutes.” Yebin was having some problems with her sleeve, trying to keep it from rolling down as it had been.

Minkyung stopped and handed the garment bag to Yebin to hold onto. She took the box from her and set it at their feet. She unrolled the girl’s sleeve all the way, then rerolled it until it sat neatly above the girl’s wrist. She thumbed at her sleeve, really taking in just how much the hoodie engulfed the smaller girl. “You look really cute in that. It makes you look even smaller.” Yebin had just accepted that everything that came out of the woman’s mouth would make her blush. She choked out a thank you before handing the bag back and bending to pick up the box.

They approached the stop just as a bus left. Neither one of them felt bad that Yebin couldn’t make it on. They traveled in 12 minute increments, giving them plenty of time to sit on the bench and talk.

“It’s going to take me some time to get used to this, whatever this is.” Minkyung turned to Yebin as the younger spoke. “But thank you. I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

Yebin just nodded, letting the mood they created sit on her shoulders for a bit. “So is Kyungwon always like that?” She watched as Minkyung groaned and went on about how yes, Kyungwon was always running around and never organized.

The two chatted for a bit, the conversation never dulling. When the next bus approached, neither one of them really wanted to leave. So they didn’t. They let the next 6 busses go by. Yebin had turned on the bench to be facing Minkyung while the older woman had slipped her jacket off to be more comfortable. They laughed with each other until their sides hurt. They found out a little more about each other as well. Yebin talked about her friends and Minkyung talked about hers. Yebin left Minkyung with a list of shows and movies to watch and Minkyung left the younger with a recipe for her favorite dish.

The sky had darkened, leaving the pair washed in the glow of the streetlights. Their conversation stilled for a moment after they almost cried from laughter at Yebin’s story of Eunwoo walking in on Jieqiong in a rather compromising position. She heard a shutter go off and turned to find Minkyung pulling her phone back to look at the picture she had just taken.

“Hey!”

“I need a contact picture for you,” Minkyung said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Let me see it.” Yebin scooted closer as Minkyung placed her arm on the back of the bench to give the younger room to lean into her side. Minkyung turned the screen for Yebin to see. She had to admit it was a really good picture of her. The lights from the street cast shadows on her face, but it really added to the look of the picture “Yeah, it’s good,” she said, turning to look at the woman. Minkyung was more focused on her phone and setting the picture as the contact than she was on Yebin. It gave the younger a second to really admire the beauty of the older. She turned her head back quickly before Minkyung could notice.

“There we go. Now whenever you call or text I’ll get to see your beautiful face.” Yebin shoved her over and fake gagged at her words, but her face still bloomed no matter how hard she tried to stop it. She’d need to work on not blushing every time someone complimented her.

They could see the next bus approaching and both decided to part ways then. Minkyung helped Yebin gather all of her things so she could carry them easily. Yebin lingered in front of Minkyung, not wanting to leave just yet. She didn’t know what really came over her but she surged forward, tiptoeing to kiss Minkyung on the cheek, only to fall short by a few inches still. She rocked back onto flat feet, embarrassed by her filed attempt. Minkyung didn’t hesitate to lean forward and kiss her forehead instead. Yebin mumbled under her breath, embarrassed, “You’re too damn tall.” 

Minkyung just laughed and directed her to the bus. She called out before Yebin stepped on. “Text me when you get home?” Yebin nodded in affirmation before turning and entering the bus.

She spent the ride home with butterflies in her stomach and a flushed face. She wasn’t surprised to find Eunwoo and Jieqiong still on her couch, take out for 10 people surrounding them.

“So how’d it go?” Eunwoo asked, mouth full and eyes glued to her phone.

Yebin threw the box of shoes down in front of them, followed by her new phone- that she gently tossed at Jieqiong- and unzipping the bag so they could see the clothes inside.

They were silent for a moment, giving Yebin just enough time to sit and grab a container, digging in with little grace. Eunwoo spoke again just as she finished shoving her first bite into her mouth. “Holy fuck did you get yourself a sugar mommy?”

Yebin furrowed her brow as she struggled to speak around the food. “A what?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How many times does Yebin blush in this chapter? I don't know I lost count after the first one. Probably too much but hey she's a flustered baby. A couple friends from both sides make their appearance. Kyungwon's entrance isn't too bad, but I feel like Siyeon's a little awkward, but hey I needed to just introduce her. Anyway enough of me. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. ^-^


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here it is!! I'm so sorry it took almost 2 months but I really hope you guys think it was worth the wait. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out and I hope you all enjoy reading it ^-^
> 
> [Edit]- So my dumbass forgot to introduce Nayoung this chapter so I had to edit and reupload because the next chapter will flow so much better if I introduce her here. It's a really small intro but it's going to make a big difference I promise. The only part that has been edited is right when they get to Minkyung's office up until right before she wakes Yebin up. Sorry about that guys. Hope you enjoy it just the same.

Yebin couldn’t remember how to tie her tie. She remembered Minkyung standing too close and the woman’s hands delicately working the fabric, but she couldn’t remember the steps. She glanced at the time, seeing she couldn’t wait around trying to remember. She huffed and ripped it off her neck before rushing out the door to make it to the bus. She spent the ride trying to calm her nerves. She really didn’t want to mess up and have all the work Minkyung went through to get her the job be put to waste.

She took her time walking to the building, making sure she looked her best. She was willing to admit she looked really good in the uniform and she was grateful that Minkyung bought it for her. As she kept walking her phone buzzed a few times in a row. She checked it, seeing messages from Jieqiong and Eunwoo in their group chat. Now that she had a smartphone, they spammed her with cute emojis whenever they talked. She smiled at their messages of support, sending one back. Just as she sent it, another notification came in. Seeing it was from Minkyung, she smiled again before even reading the message.

_Just wanted to wish you luck on your first day._

She smiled wider seeing the little emote cheering for her. She watched the character dance for a bit as confetti fell around it. It was a simple message that was more professional than it was friendly, but Yebin’s heart still beat a little faster and her face felt a little warmer.

She swallowed her nerves before entering the restaurant from the side door. She received an email from the shift manager telling her all she needed to know about where to go. She didn’t know what to expect, but she found herself in the middle of what looked like a staff meeting. Almost all of the employees were grouped around a man standing on a chair holding a clipboard. They all turned to her when they heard the door open, most of them looking confused when they didn’t recognize her.

“Oh the new girl’s here,” the man on the chair said. He looked inviting and not upset that she seemed to have interrupted what he was saying. “Ok everyone heard what the boss said. Everyone’s performance is fine and everything is in order. You’re all good to go.” The workers all walked off, moving to where they needed to be to start the day. The man who spoke approached her then. “You must be Yebin?” He was very broad shouldered, but his gentle face contrasted his looks. “I’m Dongho, one of the shift managers.” He turned to look down the hall, shouting for someone. “Sungyeon!” The volume of his voice startled Yebin.

Sungyeon popped her head around the corner. “What?” she shouted back at him. She starting walking towards them when she saw him gesturing for her.

“You’re going to be training Yebin.” He turned back to address Yebin again. “It was nice to meet you. Welcome to Black Widow.” He flashed her a friendly smile, his eyes turning to crescents. He walked away after, rushing to get his part of the job done.

Yebin turned back to Sungyeon. “Nice to see you again,” the girl said, flashing her a smile. “Come on I’ll show you around real quick.”

Sungyeon took her to the locker room first, showing Yebin where she could temporarily put her stuff until they got her a locker of her own. Yebin stored her stuff away as Sungyeon gave her a brief rundown of what the locker room was used for. Employees were given a few rooms to change into so they didn’t have to worry about wearing their uniforms too and from work. They could also store their spare uniforms in their assigned locker. The break room was connected to the locker room and had a few couches and coffee machines.

They lingered by the lockers as Sungyeon kept talking. “So we have two shift managers. You met Dongho already. The other one is Joohee. If he’s not here, she is. They’re both really nice. Most everyone here is, but you always have those few.” Yebin nodded along with whatever the girl was saying. “Ok so I’ll show you the kitchen real quick, and then show you the floor.” They started to move out of the room before Sungyeon stopped abruptly. “Where’s your tie?”

Yebin looked down at herself. “Oh I have it.” She pulled it out of her pocket, where she had placed it after carefully rolling it.

“Make sure you put it on or Yooyoung’s going to strangle you with it.” Sungyeon started out of the room, prompting Yebin to stumble out after her, still grasping her tie in her hand. They walked as Sungyeon pointed to various areas and things Yebin would need to know. Yebin would be following Sungyeon around for about a week in order to get used to the place and how it functioned before they let her go on her own. They stopped right before exiting the kitchen into the dining room. Sungyeon pointed to various part of the kitchen, showing Yebin where to get certain things patrons may need and a general idea of where to store things.

“Hey!” Yebin was startled out of listening to what Sungyeon was telling her. Her eyes scanned the room for who called out. “Where’s your tie?” She finally locked eyes with a taller woman who was stalking over to her, realising she was calling out to her. She couldn’t get an answer out in fear as the woman got closer. The only thing she really could do was lift up her hand holding the strip of fabric.

Sungyeon huffed. “I told you to put it on. What are you doing?”

The woman was standing right over Yebin now, hands on her hips and gazing down at the smaller girl. She managed to speak around the intimidation. “I don’t know how to tie it.”

Yebin felt like she didn’t even blink before her tie was secure around her neck, pulled tight by the woman in front of her. The woman smiled brightly at her before patting her on the shoulder. “There you go.” Yebin squeaked out a _thank you_ before the woman walked away.

Sungyeon stepped up close to her. “That would be Yooyoung.” Yebin nodded, feeling a little numb from the very strange and intense encounter she just had. “How do you not know how to tie a tie?” Sungyeon questioned as she guided Yebin out of the kitchen and into the dining area.

Yebin fiddled with the knot a bit, loosening it a bit so she didn’t feel as constricted. “I’ve never had to wear one before.”

“You didn’t ask anyone to show you how? Or did you look something up online to show you?”

Yebin’s face reddened slightly. “I had Minkyung show me, but I couldn’t remember how to do it.”

Sungyeon’s face was all Yebin needed to know that the girl was onto her. “Are you two close?”

Yebin hesitated but only because she didn’t really know how to answer that. “No. We’re not, actually.”

Sungyeon looked a little taken aback. “You two looked pretty close when I saw you that day.”

Yebin chuckled a bit thinking back to that day. “We had only met about an hour before we talked to you.”

Sungyeon looked extremely confused now. “Really?”

Yebin just nodded, not knowing exactly how to explain what she and Minkyung are.

Sungyeon dropped the topic with a hum in order to keep showing Yebin around. They didn’t have much time before they opened. She explained to Yebin where a few important things were.

“So the bar is over here. It’s where everyone gets the drinks from. We mostly serve alcohol but there are other, non alcoholic options,” Sungyeon explained. “When you need to get something for the patrons you come over here,” she slapped the bar counter, “-and ask Kyla for whatever it is you need.”

Yebin looked behind the bar, expecting someone to be there to match Sungyeon’s words, but no one was there. Sungyeon also looked a little puzzled. She braced herself on the counter and hopped up, looking down to see if someone was underneath it. She hopped off and yelled. “Kyla!”

A large thud was heard past the door behind the bar. A few bottles could be heard clinking together, as well as a girl’s voice grumbling to herself. The door soon burst open, revealing a young girl with her arms full of different bottles of alcohol. She dumped them onto the counter underneath the bar, cringing as some of them hit a little harder. The girl looked around flustered. “We’re not open yet are we?”

Yebin and Sungyeon giggled at the girl. “Calm down kid we’ve still got a few minutes. This is Yebin, the new girl,” she said gesturing to Yebin. “Yebin this is Kyla.” She repeated her gesture.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Kyla said, bowing in greeting. Yebin repeated the terms and the actions.

“Kyla’s pretty young. She’s only 16 and no she’s not the bartender,” Sungyeon assured, seeing Yebin’s expression. “Kyla is in charge of all the non alcoholic drinks.”

“That’s just the fancy way of calling me the water girl.” They all laughed at that. “But I do other things too. Sometimes I run the drinks and the food to the patrons if the server is too busy.” Kyla went back into the room after that, needing to finish the rest of her opening work.

“Kyla is going to be your biggest asset this week, and probably forever. She and Dongho work back here together. Sometimes Hyelim is back here too but she’s not working today.” She guided Yebin over to a small server station. Sungyeon knelt and opened a cabinet, tossing an apron she had grabbed at Yebin. “Make sure you’re always wearing that as well.” Yebin quickly tied it around her waist as Sungyeon kept explaining a few things. “You already have serving experience so really all that you’re going to have to learn is the menu and where everything is located.”

They stood by the station for a bit longer until they opened, talking with some of the other workers. Sungyeon introduced her to Seokmin, Aron, Seungcheol, and Ara, other servers who were working with them that morning.

Patrons started filing in soon after that. She followed Sungyeon as she went from table to table, learning which ones were in her section and who she was responsible for. Many of the patrons were indifferent to them. Some were cold and rude, especially after learning that Yebin was new and training. She did her best to smile and be polite and to get them what they needed as soon as possible. A few people were friendly with them and that helped to relax her. She worked hard and didn’t find any difficulties in what she was doing. It really was a great first day.

Yebin had ran a check to a table that was ready to pay, and on her way back to the server station an arm shot out and grabbed her waist, almost causing her to double over. The laughter immediately told her who it was.

“Hi!” Minkyung enthusiastically greeted her with a cheeky grin, after she turned Yebin around to face her.

Yebin relaxed from the shock she felt, breathing a little heavy. “You scared the shit out of me,” she said with a giggle, lightly hitting Minkyung’s shoulder.

Minkyung kept her hand on Yebin’s waist as she talked. “Do you have a free moment?”

Yebin wanted to say that she did with the way Minkyung was looking at her and because of the thumb currently lightly rubbing up and down on her side, but she knew she had to keep working. “I don’t right now.”

Minkyung nodded. “If you do, come back over and sit with me.”

Yebin mumbled out an _ok_ before walking away, turning and seeing Minkyung watching her. Her face bloomed at that, smiling to herself when she turned back around. She walked back to the server station, seeing Sungyeon eyeing her.

Sungyeon shook her head as she spoke. “Not close my ass.”

“Shut up,” Yebin said while shoving her away. She went about the rest of her shift, catching Minkyung’s eyes from across the room as she roamed around. When she had to tend to a table near the woman, she could feel her eyes on her the whole time.

Even Kyla teased her about it as she set drinks on a tray for Yebin to take to patrons. “You know she’s staring at you, right?”

Yebin groaned as she picked up the tray. “Not you too.”

At the end of her shift, she glanced at Minkyung’s table. She pouted a bit seeing it was empty, wanting to have taken the woman up on her offer of talking. She lazily walked to the locker room, exhausted after working her first day. She was physically fine, able to handle being on her feet and moving around as much as she had to. After all of the new information she had dumped on her, she was ready to go home and sleep for the rest of the day.

Yebin was alone in the locker room. She would have thought it was kind of odd but she didn’t really care at that point. She slowly opened her locker and just stared inside of it. After a long moment she decided she didn’t have enough energy to change and she would just wait until she got home. She grabbed her bag off the hook and tossed it right behind her. She checked the time on her phone, seeing it was a little past 4:00. She made sure she didn’t have anything left in the locker before grabbing the door to close it.

“Good first day?” A voice asked just as she was closing the door. Yebin screamed, seeing Minkyung leaning on the locker next to her. She stumbled backwards and her foot caught on her bag, almost sending her to the ground. Arms wrapped around her waist as she thought she was going to lose her balance finally.

Yebin groaned in frustration and buried her face in the woman’s chest. “You have to stop scaring me today,” she mumbled out. She could feel Minkyung chuckling as she wrapped her arms around Yebin tighter.

“But the look on your face is so cute.” Yebin bloomed at the affection, groaning louder again. She slowly extracted herself from Minkyung’s arms, trying not to focus on how the taller woman’s touch lingered.

Minkyung adjusted her jacket as she leaned against the lockers again. She watched as Yebin carefully shut the locker door and slowly turned to face her. Neither one of them spoke for a bit. Yebin leaned against the lockers as well, looking down at her tie as she fiddled with it. She glanced up quickly at Minkyung, locking eyes before looking down again, her cheeks a soft red. “Hey,” Minkyung called out softly to her. The woman held out an arm, wanting Yebin to come closer.

The shorter girl took small steps towards her. When she got close enough, Minkyung reached out and grabbed her waist, pulling her so she stood right against her. Minkyung gently rested her hands on Yebin’s waist and looked down at the girl. Yebin didn’t know what to do and fiddled with the bottom of her tie once more. Minkyung carefully grabbed her hands and pulled them away from the garment, guiding them to rest on her shoulders. Yebin’s face grew more red as she bunched her hands up on top of the woman’s jacket.

Minkyung slowly reached her hands around behind Yebin, untying her apron. She sloppily folded it and tossed it on the bench beside her. She very lightly rested her hands back on the girl’s waist, starting to pull at her shirt a bit. She looked to Yebin, silently asking her if what she was doing was ok. The girl was incredically flustered but still managed to nod her head, trusting the taller woman. Minkyung pulled her shirt out of her waistline and smoothed it back down so it was now untucked. She lightly ran her hands up the girl’s waist a few times before bringing them up to her collar. Minkyung thumbed at the knot in the tie, before chuckling to herself. She asked Yebin a question as she slowly loosened the knot. “Did Yooyoung tie this for you?” Minkyung was very familiar with how obsessive Yooyoung was about the dress code and efficient she was at tying ties.

Yebin nodded in embarrassment. “I couldn’t remember how to tie it,” she said, hanging her head.

Minkyung tilted her chin back up with a finger so she could see what she was doing. She also did it to see the smaller girl blush more, if even possible. “Do you want me to show you again?” she asked as she slowly pulled one side of the fabric so it slipped off the girl’s collar. Yebin turned her head and lightly pushed her away, not really putting any distance between the two of them. Minkyung wound the tie up so it didn’t get wrinkled and handed it to Yebin, purposely letting their fingers brush. “Are you doing anything now that you’re off work?”

Yebin stepped away and bent to pick up her bag. “I was planning on going home and sleeping.” She slung it over her shoulders, slouching as the weight settled.

“Would you want to come back to the office with me?”

Yebin could feel the exhaustion in her body, but she wasn’t about to pass up an offer to spend more time with the woman. She shyly nodded, letting a smile grow when Minkyung beamed at her. She turned to lead the way out of the room, but was pulled back by the strap of her bag. Minkyung gently pulled the bag off of her bag and slung it over her own shoulders, leaving no room for argument about who was to carry it.

They walked out of the locker room together, walking through the building to the side door and out onto the street. They walked side by side a few blocks until they reached the Pledis building. Yebin spoked a bit about her first day, sharing a few funny stories about her co workers and the patrons. They walked in the building and up to the desk, seeing Wonwoo sitting in his spot.

The man was speaking on the phone to someone, but put up a finger to them to let them know he noticed them. Yebin knew he only did it because it was Minkyung. Had it only been her, it would have been the same as last time. When he hung up, he stood from his chair and bowed to the CEO. “How can I help you today Miss Kim?” There was a hidden, forced politeness in his voice.

Minkyung either didn’t pick up on it, or didn’t care enough to. “Do you have her badge ready?”

Wonwoo reached somewhere under the high wall of the desk where neither of them could see and pulled out a card wrapped in a lanyard. He handed it over to Minkyung and she took it before stepping away and guiding her and Yebin over to the elevators. Yebin thanked the man quickly before she got too far away, only receiving an eye roll in response.

Minkyung handed the card to the shorter girl as they waited for the doors to open. “You now have your very own key pass to come up to my floor whenever you want.”

Yebin carefully unwrapped the lanyard from around the card and observed it. It had the orange Pledis logo where a picture would normally go. Her name was along the side along with a string of numbers, most like the serial number of the card. There was other information at the bottom, like the full company name and a copyright statement. It was the same on front and back. She was puzzled at the lack of a barcode or any other indicator of what she should swipe.

The doors opened and they both stepped in. Minkyung looked to Yebin with an amused look on her face. The younger girl looked at the panel in front of her, seeing the sensor she saw Wonwoo swipe his card on. She looked back down to her card, and then to Minkyung, silently asking for help. Minkyung chuckled as she took Yebin’s hand that was holding the card and guided it to the sensor. She placed the card close enough to the sensor so it could recognize it, and pulled their hands away when the light flashed and the elevator started moving. Minkyung chuckled again seeing the look of wonder on Yebin’s face.

They arrived to the floor in less than a minute, stepping out when the doors opened. The office bustled in the way Yebin remembered it. They walked around the corner and the glass walled offices came into view. Minkyung placed a hand on Yebin’s back, guiding her through the bustling space. The younger girl could feel the warmth of her hand through her shirt and tried not to let the woman see how flustered she just got.

They walked up to Yewon’s desk and went to round it when she called out to them, specifically to Minkyung. “Nayoung’s in the meeting room.”

Minkyung furrowed her brow as she squared herself to face Yewon, keeping her hand on Yebin’s back the whole time. “Why?”

“Your brother just sent over a few documents. Kyungwon’s already started reviewing them. Nayoung just showed up about 10 minutes ago. They’ve already called for more files to be sent up.”

The woman sighed and her hand tensed. “Cancel all the appointments I have today. No one else is to come in my office.” She ushered Yebin into her office and shut the door behind them.

Yebin hovered awkwardly at the entrance, watching as Minkyung hurried over to the couches and set Yebin’s bag down on the floor in front of one of them. The woman walked behind her desk, peeling her blazer off and placing it on the back of her chair. She took a set of keys from on top of her desk and sat in her chair as she unlocked a drawer. She removed a few files and relocked the drawer, skimming through the labels to make sure she had grabbed the right ones. She placed a tablet on top of the stack as she glanced up to Yebin. She spoke as she stood from her seat. “I’m really sorry but I have to take care of this. It’s going to take a while. I guess you can wait but I have no idea how long this is going to take. If you want to go home you can.”

Yebin cut off the woman’s rambling. “I don’t mind waiting.”

Minkyung was obviously a little frustrated by whatever she was about to discuss with Kyungwon. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think this would be happening today.” Yebin didn’t know what she meant by that and she didn’t want to pry for details. Whatever it is her brother was doing was obviously striking a nerve. Minkyung fidgeted with the files in her hands before striding over to Yebin. “Go ahead and sit. Help yourself to something to drink or eat. I’ll try to make this as quick as possible.” She placed a hand on her upper arm and squeezed lightly as she leaned in to softly kiss Yebin’s forehead. She squeezed her hand one more time before stepping away and walking into the conference room, closing the door behind her.

Yebin stood frozen, feeling the heat from where Minkyung’s lips touched her skin. She placed her hands on her cheeks, feeling just how hot her face was. She took a few deep breaths as she fanned herself. Shifting weight inbetween her feet, she stared at the door Minkyung just walked through with an amused smile on her face.

She collected herself finally and walked over to the fridge to grab herself a water. She wandered around the office for a bit as she sipped at her drink, careful not to snoop through any of Minkyung’s things. The woman didn’t keep a lot of sentimental items in her office, instead displaying plaques the company has earned and expensive stationary that was more for looks than it was practical use.

Her exhaustion hit her again as she sat on one of the couches. She sat for a minute, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. Her feet were aching a bit and her pants were digging into her waist. She opened her eyes again and looked at her bag, knowing she had a more comfortable change of clothes in it. She leaned and looked toward the conference room, not sure what she should do about trying to change. She stood and grabbed her bag before walking out of the office, carefully opening and closing the door. She stepped up to Yewon to ask her where the nearest bathroom was.

After getting her answer she followed the directions she was given. Luckily no one else was in there with her so she took her time tidying herself up. She wasn’t able to shower, but she managed to wash her face and put some clean clothes on. She traded her uniform for a pair of leggings and an oversized sweater. She put everything in her bag and slipped on a pair of canvas shoes.

Yebin felt like she was ready to fall asleep at any moment. She trudged back to the office, waving to Yewon as she walked back in. She sat down on the couch with little grace closing her eyes as soon as she settled. She didn’t want to fall asleep here but she felt like a little power nap wouldn’t hurt anyone. She turned sideways and adjusted the throw pillows to support her head. She made sure to keep her shoes off the couch as she tried to find the best position. She grabbed her phone, sending a quick text to her friends to let them know where she was and that she wouldn’t be home until later.

She didn’t know when she fell asleep, but she started stirring from a weight shifting the couch and a blanket being pulled over her shoulders. She could feel she wasn’t wearing her shoes anymore and that her whole body was resting on the couch. She started shifting, but before she could open her eyes, a hand rested on her shoulder and the weight shifted again, almost leaning over her.

Minkyung shushed her softly before speaking. “Go back to sleep baby girl.” The woman softly kissed just below the girl’s ear before adjusting the blanket again. She rubbed her back gently until Yebin fell back asleep, spending a few more seconds just looking at the girl. She stood gently, letting her hand trail down Yebin’s arm as she did.

 “”Baby girl”?” Minkyung could hear the teasing in Kyungwon’s voice. The other woman leaned against the door frame, an eyebrow raised at her. Nayoung stood next to her, chuckling at the two.

 “I will fire you,” Minkyung grumbled.

 “No you won’t.” Kyungwon said as they walked back into the room to finish their discussion.

They finished a few hours later, stressed and exhausted from reading and re reading files for hours. Minkyung took her time putting the files away. Kyungwon left to go back to her office, the CFO needing to take care of some last minute things before leaving for the day. Nayoung left back for Tricell, the law firm she worked for. Pledis’ personal team of lawyers all came from Tricell, with Nayoung being the head of the team. She was their best defense lawyer.

They finished a few hours later, stressed and exhausted from reading and re reading files for hours. Minkyung took her time putting the files away. Kyungwon left to go back to her office, the CFO needing to take care of some last minute things before leaving for the day.

Minkyung walked back over to the couch, gazing at Yebin for a short while. She figured it was time to wake her up and take her home. The girl had flipped over and was now facing the back of the couch. She sat down gently, stopping her movement when Yebin tensed up. She relaxed when the younger girl did as well, her breathing still even. She placed a hand on the girl’s hip and leaned over to lightly kiss her jawline, trailing up to her ear. “Wake up baby girl.” She could feel her stirring and kept lightly kissing her jaw and her cheek, smiling into the girl’s skin. “Yebin you gotta wake up now,” she lightly sang. The girl grumbled, curling into herself as her sleep was disturbed. Minkyung laughed and kept pressing kisses into the girl’s cheek. “Come on baby you need to wake up. It’s late.”

Yebin turned and cracked an eye open. Seeing the woman so close to her face woke her up almost immediately. She quickly reddened and turned to bury her face in the pillow. Minkyung sat up straight and rubbed the girl’s hip with her thumb. Yebin slowly relaxed now that they weren’t so close to each other and the woman was no longer kissing her face. She turned over so she could better face the Minkyung. She rubbed at her eyes as she tried to fully wake up. “What time is it?” Her voice was raw from sleep.

“It’s past 9:00. I should get you home so you can sleep some more.” Yebin nodded before curling herself into Minkyung’s side, wrapping her arms around the woman’s waist. She was clingy when she was tired, not that either of them were going to complain. She ran her fingers through the girl’s hair for a bit as Yebin clung to her.

Eventually she sat up straight, looking a little disoriented from sleeping for so long. She ran her own hand through her hair as she kicked the blanket off of her fully. She looked back to Minkyung when she realized something. “Were you calling me baby?” Minkyung smirked at her and Yebin’s face reddened.

The taller woman reached for Yebin’s shoes and handed them to her. She stood as the girl slipped them back on and went to collect her jacket. Yebin stood and smoothed out her sweater and pulled down her leggings where they had ridden up. Minkyung walked back over and picked up the girl’s bag, raising an eyebrow when Yebin tried to argue.

Minkyung guided her out of the office, closing the doors behind them. They stepped onto the elevator and Minkyung hit the button for the ground floor before settling back, standing next to Yebin. They both looked forward, neither one of them talking. Minkyung glanced down at the girl, seeing her worrying her lip. She reached down and slid her fingers between Yebin’s. She could see the girl freeze and redden out of the corner of her, smiling to herself at how cute she was.

The doors opened just then and Minkyung lightly pulled Yebin out with her by their joined hands. They walked out of the lobby and onto the street. Yebin finally relaxed, and tightened her grip on the woman’s hand. “Is it alright if I take you home today? So you don’t have to ride the bus?” Yebin nodded, not minding spending more time with the woman. Minkyung smiled brightly, pulling Yebin along the side of the building to the parking garage.

Near the entrance was a valet service. Minkyung didn’t have to say anything before the worker there was off to retrieve her car for her. They stood for a quick minute before the worker drove up in the car. A black Lexus LS460 stopped right in front of them. The valet worker stepped out and handed Minkyung the keys, bowing before returning to the podium. Minkyung guided Yebin around the the passenger side, opening the door for the girl.

Yebin stood wide eyed, afraid to step foot in the vehicle. Minkyung just chuckled as she opened the back door and placed Yebin’s bag on the seat. Yebin very gently got in the car, trying her best not to touch anything. Minkyung closed to door as she laughed, chuckling all the way around and into her seat. Yebin sat as still as she could, looking very stiff.

“It’s just a car baby. You aren’t going to hurt it.”

“You- stop that,” Yebin stuttered out as she buckled herself.

“Nope. You’re cute when you blush so I’m going to keep doing it,” Minkyung reached over and grabbed Yebin’s hand, kissing the back of it just as she finished talking.

They spent the ride in comfortable silence. Yebin gave Minkyung directions when needed, but she was so flustered by the woman that she didn’t speak other than to do so. She was amazed at how well their hands fit together, but couldn’t focus on that too much because Minkyung’s thumb never stopped rubbing the back of her hand. It was strange to her that they’d only known each other such a short time, but she was already so comfortable with the older woman. She tried to ignore how upset she felt when Minkyung pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex.

Yebin slowly unbuckled, not realizing Minkyung had already gotten out until her door opened. She grabbed the offered hand and stood from the car. She carefully closed the door as Minkyung retrieved her bag from the back seat. The stood there, neither one wanting to take the initiative to move. She moved to grab her bag from the woman when her phone started to ring. Seeing it was from Eunwoo, she answered, shooting Minkyung an apologetic look. “Hello?”

“ _She’s hot!_ ”

She flinched at the loudness of her friend’s voice, turning to look where her window was. She could make out two figures leaning out of the window, silhouetted by her living room light. She made a show of hanging up on her friend, and shoved her phone back in her pocket. She turned back around to see Minkyung’s amused grin.

“Is it ok if I walk you up?”

Yebin contemplated that. She wasn’t quite ready for Minkyung to meet her friends, especially after Eunwoo’s phone call. “Um, maybe when they’re not here. That’s a whole mess I don’t want you to have to deal with just yet.”

Minkyung nodded and handed Yebin her bag. The girl slowly slung it over her shoulder. “Ok. Next time.”

Yebin felt a little flushed. “Next time,” she agreed.

Minkyung stepped forward and placed a hand on Yebin’s waist. She leaned in and pressed a long kiss to the girl’s forehead. “Have a good night.” A chorus of aw’s traveled from the third floor.

Yebin, ignoring her friends, looked up at her and lightly smiled. “Good night.” She stepped away and started up the walkway as Minkyung stepped back and opened her car door. A voice from above stopped them both.

“Is she not coming up?” Eunwoo’s voice rang out.

“Shut up!” Yebin yelled back.

“How do you like your eggs cooked in the morning?” Jieqiong yelled.

Minkyung laughed heartily. “Over easy!” she yelled back. She waved at Yebin one last time before closing the door. She waited in the parking lot until Yebin made it into the building, then backed out and drove off.

Yebin trudged up the stairs to her apartment. She couldn’t fight the smile on her face from just thinking about Minkyung. She stepped onto her floor, prepared to greet her friends, knowing they were going to grill her for the details of her night. She paused in front of her door, thinking to herself when the next time she saw the older woman would be.


	4. Chapter 4

“If you keep doing that you’re going to bite the end of your pen off.”

 

Yebin was pulled out of her daze by Jieqiong’s words. She pulled her pen away from her mouth and sure enough, there were teeth indentations on the end. She tossed it down with a sigh and rubbed her eyes in frustration.

 

“Maybe we should take a break?”

 

“Eunwoo we’ve been here for almost two hours and you still haven’t even opened your bag. You’ve been playing games on your phone this whole time,” Jieqiong quickly retorts.

 

“Yeah but I’ve been losing for a while. You two take a break from studying and I’ll take a break from playing before I throw my phone.” Yebin and Jieqiong just stared at the girl incredulously for a moment.

 

Yebin rubbed her temple as she stared at her laptop. It was 10 years old and held together by duct tape in a few places. It only ran about 2 programs but she made it work as best as possible. She stretched and yawned before reaching for her travel cup. She was disappointed to find it empty, briefly remembering finishing the last of her coffee about 20 minutes ago. She was a page and half away from finishing her music assignment, one she’d been working on since last week. She was tired of analyzing classical music but it was an easy assignment, when her laptop decided to cooperate with her.

 

Yebin glared at the unresponsive screen, furiously tapping the mouse pad trying to get some form of movement from it. She froze for a second, hearing it start to whir loudly before watching as the screen went black and it shut itself down. She huffed and slammed it shut, sliding it back into her bag. She laid her head down on the table to rest for a moment before attempting to do any of her other work.

 

Jieqiong picked up her phone as a notification came in. She typed a quick response before setting it back down. Seconds later another notification came in. She giggled lightly as she typed another response, placing it back down when she finished. This continued for some time before a series of notifications came in and she didn’t move to pick her phone up.

 

“Ok who are you texting?” Eunwoo was fed with the vibrations continued.

 

Jieqiong casually answered as she was typing a response. “No one.”

 

Eunwoo raised an eyebrow at the other girl before dramatically moving her chair to scoot closer to Yebin, making herself even with Jieqiong. “No one? If you were texting your mom, you’d just say it was your mom. If it was a classmate asking about a project, you’d just say it was a classmate asking about a project. “No one” is someone that you’re hiding from us that you don’t want us to know about and because of the casual way you blew us off, it’s someone you’re interested in that you don’t want to tell us about yet. And that hurts me Zhou Jieqiong. That wounds me.” Yebin snorted at the dramatic girl before turning to face Jieqiong sitting across from them.

 

She sat there, worrying her lip as she stared at her phone screen. She glanced up at the pair before sighing. “Ok you’re right.”

 

Eunwoo slapped the table in triumph, ignoring the glares she got from the other students and the librarian.

 

“Why did you never tell us you were seeing someone?” Yebin gently asked.

 

“It’s not that I didn’t want you to know or that I wanted to hide it. We haven’t been seeing each other for very long so I was waiting until it was serious to tell you.” The girl felt a little regretful for keeping her relationship from her friends.

 

“Ok but who is it? Do we know them? What do they do? Are they good in bed?” Yebin and Jieqiong looked at Eunwoo in mild disgust. “I’m asking the important questions,” she said, seeing their faces.

 

Yebin turned back to Jieqiong. “I understand your thinking about not wanting to tell us. We’ll wait until you’re ready. As long as they’re treating you right and making you happy.”

 

Jieqiong stared at a spot on the table as a small smile grew on her face. “She does.”

 

Eunwoo lost it, slapping Yebin’s shoulder as she bounced in her seat a little. “Please Jie I am dying I have to know more about her.” Yebin rubbed her shoulder as she scooted away from Eunwoo a bit.

 

“I will tell you when I know that it’s something serious. I promise.” Eunwoo dramatically flopped onto the table. Jieqiong continued as the girl slowly picked herself up to sit in her chair again, somewhat normally. “I don’t have any family here to introduce a relationship to. I want to wait until I know it means something to introduce her to you two. You guys are my family here and I want her to meet you two like she would be meeting my parents.”

 

Yebin smiled fondly at the girl. She turned when she heard sniffling. Eunwoo sat awkwardly, almost like she was in pain. She had visible tears in her eyes and her mouth was clenched strangely. “You look like you’re constipated,” Yebin said after a beat.

 

“No I’m not. I’m ok. I’m not crying. It’s not like that got me emotional or anything. It’s ok. You think we’re family? Oh yeah no big deal or anything. Everything’s _fine_.” She gritted out the last word, doing her best to keep herself together.

 

Jieqiong looked at the girl lovingly, reaching out a hand for Eunwoo to hold onto for support. “I love you too.”

 

Yebin dug out some tissues for her, handing them to her while chuckling. “Yeah yeah. I love you too, bitch,” Eunwoo said before blowing her nose loudly.

 

“I’m happy for you,” Yebin said after Eunwoo collected herself. Jieqiong blushed and ducked her head, feeling giddy from finally telling them about her relationship. She mouthed a silent _thank you_.

 

The moment was interrupted by Yebin’s phone vibrating. Eunwoo snatched it from the table and rushed to sit on the other side before the girl could grab it herself. “Hey!” Yebin whisper-yelled at her.

 

“Ooh three messages from your sugar mommy.” Eunwoo and Jieqiong sat shoulder to shoulder, opening the messages from Minkyung. “She says _Hi,_ she wants to know what you’re doing right now and if you’re free, and if you want to go for coffee.”

 

Yebin tried to lunge across the table and take her phone back, but Eunwoo moved it out of reach. “Give it back,” she ground out.

 

“Do you want to go or not?” Eunwoo teased.

 

Yebin stilled, body still halfway across the table. “Well, yeah I guess.”

 

”Yeah...I...guess,” Eunwoo said each word slowly as she typed them out and sent them.

 

Yebin froze in panic. “Did you send that to her?” Eunwoo and Jieqiong were trying their best to contain their cackling. Yebin didn’t find it funny. “Jung Eunwoo I’m going to kill you.”

 

Eunwoo suddenly stopped laughing. “Oh she replied. _‘That’s fine. We don’t have to do anything right now if you don’t want to. Sorry to bother you.’_ Wait she thought that was from you.” Eunwoo sat staring at the phone, seemingly confused on how she got there.

 

Something snapped in Yebin after she heard what Minkyung’s reply was. She shoved her books in her bag as quickly as possible, not caring about the order. She shot out of her seat and rounded the table as she tried to zip her bag up. She snatched her phone from Eunwoo and tried her best to call Minkyung and walk out, still struggling with her bag.

 

She made it out of the library doors just as the woman picked up. She could barely greet Yebin before the girl interrupted her.

 

“I’m so sorry. That was Eunwoo. She took my phone and sent you that. You’re not bothering me I promise. I would love to go get some coffee with you.” She was breathing heavily having said all of that in one breath on top of rushing to call Minkyung.

 

_“Are you sure? If you’re busy that’s ok. We can try again some other time.”_ Yebin could hear that the woman sounded almost small- unsure of herself.

 

“I promise I’m not busy. Eunwoo was being stupid as always. She saw that you messaged me and wanted to tease me a bit.” Yebin’s face flushed as she spoke. She looked around a bit seeing other people, but thankfully none of them were paying her any attention. She slung her bag over one shoulder after finally managing to close it.

 

_“Ok. Well where are you? I’ll come pick you up and we can go.”_ She could hear the smile in Minkyung’s voice, prompting one of her own.

 

“I’m outside the library on campus. We can just meet at a coffee shop? So you don’t have to come all the way out here.” She started to walk away from the library, heading towards one of the bus stations.

 

_“No it’s ok I’ll come get you. I don’t mind the drive.”_ Yebin blushed at how selfless the woman sounded. _“I just need you to do one thing for me.”_

 

“Yeah, sure.” She played with the end of her sleeve nervously.

 

_“Stay right where you are.”_ The call cut out right after that. Yebin’s brows furrowed as she pulled her phone from her ear, seeing that the other woman had hung up on her. She glanced around in front of her, wondering what Minkyung meant by those words. She didn’t have time to really question it when she felt someone tug her bag off her shoulder. She didn’t get a chance to turn around before someone was hugging her from behind.

 

Arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her close, startling her even further. Low laughter immediately calmed her down and told her who it was. The arms tightened as lips pressed just under her jaw. A voice hummed before speaking against Yebin’s skin. “Hi baby girl.”

 

Yebin relaxed into Minkyung’s embrace, hanging her head as she felt her cheeks bloom. She buried her face in her hands as she laughed to herself, feeling Minkyung chuckling against her. The woman loosened her embrace but kept her hold on Yebin, turning her around in her arms.

 

“What are you doing here?” Yebin asked as she playfully hit Minkyung’s shoulder.

 

The woman smiled down at her, taking one hand and moving some hair out of Yebin’s face. “I was a guest lecturer for a business class today. I hoped you would still be on campus and thought I could take you to get some coffee. Figured you could use a break from all your homework.”

 

“You don’t have to go back to the office today?” Yebin was almost melting in the woman’s arms. She wasn’t quite sure where to put her hands with how tightly Minkyung was holding her so they ended up bunched up, resting on the woman’s waistline.

 

“Nope. Even if I did, I’d rather spend time with you.” Yebin’s face bloomed almost immediately and she buried her head in the woman’s chest. Minkyung tightened her hold on the girl as she chuckled at her. She bent her head to the side, trying to get a look at the girl’s face. “You want to go ahead and get going?”

 

“Not before she finally introduces her sugar mommy to us.” Yebin whipped her head around to see Eunwoo and Jieqiong standing next to them. She quickly pulled herself out of Minkyung’s arms and took a step back, not missing the hurt look on the woman’s face.

 

“Eunwoo please, have some tact,” Jieqiong said while lightly hitting the girl’s stomach. “We won’t bother you two much. It’s nice to finally meet you. Officially,” she added after a beat. They exchanged greetings quickly.

 

“She hasn’t talked about you two a lot but from what I know and what I’ve seen first hand you all seem like very good friends.” Minkyung spoke carefully.

 

“Really? Because she hasn’t managed to shut up about you.” Eunwoo raised her eyebrows a few times at the pair.

 

Yebin blushed and avoided Minkyung’s eye. The older woman just slowly smiled without taking her eyes off of the girl. Yebin cleared her throat before speaking to her friends. “Don’t you two have somewhere to be right now?” She looked at them pointedly, trying to tell them to go away.

 

“Nope. We have all the time in the world right now,” Eunwoo retorted. She stood there with her hands clasped, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

 

The group grew silent. Yebin and Minkyung looked at the other pair in hopes they would leave, Yebin more so than Minkyung.

 

Jieqiong finally chuckled and grabbed the handle of Eunwoo’s bag, dragging her along with her. “You two have fun on your date!” she said as the duo walked away.

 

“It’s not a date!” Yebin retorted, blowing off the waves her friends sent her.

 

“It’s not?” Yebin whipped back around to face Minkyung, seeing the questioning expression on her face.

 

Yebin’s face flushed, her words getting caught in her throat as she tried to get them out. “Wait- did you? Did you want- is it? I didn’t know. You just asked me- for- and now we’re here and I don’t know. Is this- did you want this to be a-” Yebin stopped, not sure how to end her rambling.

 

Minkyung nodded her head. “Yeah. I’d like it to be a date.”

 

Yebin flushed even further. “Oh,” she drug out. She felt very small all of a sudden in front of the woman. “You didn’t mention that when you asked me for coffee.”

 

Without missing a beat after, Minkyung grabbed one of Yebin’s hands in both of hers, asking confidently. “Will you go on a date with me to get some coffee?”

 

Yebin froze as all the air rushed out of her lungs. She managed to choke out a _“Yes”_ with her eyes locked on their hands. The little bit of air she got back quickly escaped again seeing the dazzling smile on the taller woman’s face.

 

Minkyung stepped closer, pulling on Yebin’s hand up to her mouth. She held it tenderly in both hands as she kept eye contact with the younger. She placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles, stroking her fingers softly as she pulled it away. “Ok,” she whispered, almost afraid to break the moment. “Let’s get going then.”

 

Yebin nodded, afraid that if she tried to speak the sound that came out wouldn’t be words. Minkyung smiled widely again, a sight Yebin would never get used to. The older woman bent to retrieve the girl’s bag, before slinging it over her shoulder. She adjusted their hands so their fingers were now intertwined. She tugged Yebin along, walking in the same direction that the other two had gone.

 

They walked slowly, taking their time with each other. “How did your lecture go?” Yebin asked, wanting to break the silence that had fallen over them.

 

Minkyung chuckled lowly. “I won’t bore you with all of the details but it went fine, smoother than I thought it would. I gave a presentation on the start of the company and how it got where it is today. Talked a little bit about the beginnings of managing a company. Kyungwon talked about the finances and the stocks to the marketing classes.”

 

“Where is Kyungwon?” Yebin was fascinated at how well their hands fit together, finding it hard to take her eyes off of them.

 

“She’s still in a lecture right now. She has to give four today. I only had to give one.” She turned and looked at Yebin mischievously, amused at the situation. Yebin giggled at the look on her face. “How about you? How were your classes?”

 

“Oh, I didn’t have any today. I was studying with the other two in the library. I was working on my music assignment but my laptop decided to stop working. We were taking a small break when you texted me.” She started lightly swinging their hands together at the end, feeling a light spring in her step.

 

“Do you need a new one?” Minkyung asked, looking down at her.

 

Yebin looked pointedly at the taller woman. “No,” was all she offered. She wasn’t ready for Minkyung to buy her more expensive things just because the woman wanted to.

 

Minkyung threw both hands up in defense, bringing their joined hands with her. Yebin giggled at her action, giggling even more when the older woman placed another kiss to the back of her hand before bringing them back to their sides. As they reached the parking lot, Minkyung guided them over to a silver Rolls Royce.

 

Yebin stopped a few steps away from the car, laughing dryly to herself as she turned away. “I’m taking the bus. There’s no way I’m getting in that thing.” Minkyung opened the passenger door and raised an eyebrow. When Yebin didn’t move she pointed a finger into the car, silently telling the girl to get in. Yebin huffed and walked to the open door, peeking inside. “Oh it’s got wood in it!” she said as if that made her situation worse.

 

Minkyung smiled and shook her head at the girl. “It’s built like any other car. You aren’t going to damage it by sitting in it.”

 

“This is not how Eunwoo’s car is built,” she said, more or less to herself.

 

Minkyung surprised Yebin, leaning in quickly to place a quick kiss on her cheek. “You’re so cute.” Yebin surprisingly didn’t blush this time, but she looked shocked and extremely stiff.

 

Minkyung waited until Yebin situated herself in the car before shutting the door and walking around to get in herself. She chuckled to herself seeing how stiff Yebin still was out of the corner of her eye. She place a hand on the girl’s thigh, feeling her slowly relax as they drove through the city to Minkyung’s favorite coffee shop.

 

Yebin softly played with Minkyung’s fingers, lightly tracing them and occasionally intertwining them with her own. A short way into the drive, she spoke as she was softly holding onto the woman’s thumb. “I’m sorry for how I reacted when my friends showed up. I didn’t mean to pull away like that. I just knew that they’d tease me for it and I was kind of worried they’d be weird when they met you. They’re a lot to handle.” She was silent for a quick second before adding, “I’m not ashamed of you.”

 

Minkyung started laughing. “I wasn’t worried you were ashamed of me. I get it. This,” she grabbed the girl’s hand in her own for emphasis, “is new for the both of us. We’ll take it slow. And if that means that you don’t want your friends to see us hugging than that’s what it means. I’m willing to work at your pace.”

 

Yebin couldn’t find the right words to say, so she just tightened her grip for a quick second on the woman’s hand and left it at that.

 

They eventually arrived to a rooftop cafe in the middle of the business district. Yebin blanched thinking about how expensive a regular black coffee would be.

 

Minkyung playfully guided the girl out of the car, seeing how reluctant she was. They climbed the stairs holding hands, keeping them joined until Minkyung let go to open the door for them. The interior looked as expensive as it should have. Everything was clean-edged and very minimalist, yet rustic at the same time. Minkyung guided them up to the counter with a hand on Yebin’s back.

 

The worker at the counter greeted them brightly. “Miss Kim! Glad to see you again,” the young man said with a smile and a small bow. Minkyung politely smiled back, but didn’t approach him yet.

 

Yebin stared blankly at the display case, eyes slowly moving to view all the delicacies the cafe had to offer. She didn’t know what made a muffin so good that it cost almost $50. She almost turned to Minkyung to ask if they could go somewhere she could afford when the woman spoke to her.

 

“Go ahead and get whatever you want. I’m paying so don’t worry about it.” She shifted her hand to the girl’s waist after she spoke, looking at the display case herself. Yebin wanted to argue with her, but she knew there was no room for that here. Minkyung placed a soft kiss to Yebin’s hair, rubbing her waist with her thumb as she spoke. “What do you want, baby?”

 

Yebin turned up the Minkyung and then turned to the worker at the woman’s guidance. “Um,” she spoke quietly. “I’d like a hot chocolate and a piece of strawberry cake. Please.” The worker typed in her order as Minkyung quickly added onto it.

 

“And I’ll have my usual.” She handed payment over to the worker before he even got the total out, more so just so Yebin didn’t hear how much money it was going to cost. She guided them over to a quiet table in the corner. Even though the cafe was mostly empty, she still wanted to be away from prying eyes for a moment.

 

It didn’t take long for the worker to bring their tray of delicacies over. He set down Yebin’s hot chocolate and pastry in front of her. He joined in Minkyung’s small chuckles seeing the girl’s eyes widen in anticipation. He reached back to the tray to grab Minkyung’s pastry and set it on the table, only for the tray to tip from the unbalance.

 

Yebin was too distracted by her food to notice to drink falling, only realizing once it landed on her sweater. Both of the women stood almost immediately at the disaster; Minkyung let a curse slip from her mouth seeing the younger girl in shock. They flinched a second time when the cup hit the ground and shattered. Yebin reacted robotically, standing still by her chair, holding her sweater away from her body so the hot liquid wouldn’t hurt her skin.

 

The server stood shocked as well, gaping at the mess he just caused. He couldn’t get any apologies out before Minkyung pushed him out of the way to get to Yebin.

 

“Hey, ok,” she spoke softly, trying to keep the girl calm. She gently grabbed one of her wrists and rushed the two of them to the bathroom. She pulled the younger girl in behind her and locked to door. Yebin did her best to pull the fabric away from her skin, but some of the coffee spilled on her jeans causing her to hiss in slight pain. Minkyung grabbed the bottom of the girl’s sweater as she said, “Arms up.” She didn’t give the girl much time to react before she pulled the sweater up and off of her. The woman bunched up the sweater and tossed it into the sink next to them. She grabbed a few paper towels and pressed them to the spills on Yebin’s jeans, trying to soak up as much of the liquid before it burned her too badly. She looked at the younger’s face, hating that it was scrunched up in pain. “Are you ok?”

 

Yebin didn’t really know what to do as the woman helped clean her up. She had one hand on Minkyung’s shoulder in support and the other balled in a fist at her side. She nodded stiffly. “Yeah it’s just really hot.” She let out a dry chuckle, trying to ease the situation.

 

Minkyung stopped wiping the girl’s jeans as she had gotten all the excess off. “Did it burn through your sweater?”

 

Yebin looked down in question, only just now realizing she wasn’t wearing a shirt. She quickly brought both arms up to her chest in an attempt to keep her modesty. Her face bloomed and she couldn’t even look at Minkyung anymore. She choked out an answer through her embarrassment. “Uh, no. It’s probably ruined though,” she mumbled.

 

Minkyung could tell the girl was obviously uncomfortable in her state of undress. “I have an extra shirt in my car. Let me go get it for you real quick.” She spoke gently, doing her best to keep her eyes on Yebin’s face and not let them wander, as much as she wanted to do so.

 

Yebin just nodded and watched as the older woman walked out of the bathroom. She stood awkwardly fidgeting between each foot. She wrapped her arms around herself to try and provide what little warmth she could.

 

It didn’t take long at all for Minkyung to come back. The woman knocked on the door before entering and kept her eyes down as she came back in and closed the door behind her. She handed Yebin a dark blue button up with white stripes and an off white tank top. “The shirt is mine and I also found that in my trunk,” she said pointing at the tank top. “It’s most likely Siyeon’s. I would never wear that, but you can wear it she won’t mind.” She rambled a bit, trying to make the atmosphere less tense. Yebin gently grabbed the clothes from the woman, keeping one arm to her chest. Minkyung spoke one more time as she headed for the door. “I’ll let you change.”

 

Yebin quickly slipped the tank top on, noticing it stopped well above her midriff. She picked up the button up, running her thumbs over the material. She gently slid it over her shoulders and pulled it into place. She pulled the collar up to her nose and gently breathed in the same scent she always smelled when near the older woman. Yebin smiled to herself as she felt almost giddy wearing her shirt. She adjusted her outfit, deciding after a quick look in the mirror that it wasn’t bad at all.

 

She bundled up the soaked shirt and exited the restroom. The worker was mopping up the mess on the floor and had placed signs to let other people know to avoid the mess. She saw Minkyung leaning on the doorway with her head buried in her phone. She slowly approached the woman, carefully side stepping the worker.

 

Minkyung noticed her coming closer and looked up, tensing for a moment seeing her outfit. She wasn’t subtle in the way her eyes dragged up and down the girl’s body. She spoke as she pocketed her phone, once again calm and collected. “All good?”

 

Yebin nodded as she fumbled with her sweater for a bit. Minkyung pulled a bag off of the table behind her and opened it for the girl to put her sweater in. The woman took it and tied the handles together so no excess liquid could escape. “Ok,” she said softly, more to herself than to Yebin. She held the door for Yebin, waiting as the girl bowed to the employee before walking about behind her.

 

Yebin walked with her head down, following behind Minkyung with her peripherals. “I’m sorry our date got ruined.” She flushed as she spoke, fully realizing that they had, in fact, been on a date.

 

Minkyung slowed to walk next to Yebin before grabbing her hand and intertwining her fingers. “I’m sorry your sweater got ruined.” She squeezed her hand gently as she spoke again. “But who says it has to be over?”

 

Yebin lifted her head to meet the woman’s eyes, seeing the glint in them. She nodded once. “What do you want to do?”

 

Minkyung glanced around as she thought. “Well,” she said turning back to the girl, “I did ruin your sweater. It’s only right that I buy something new.”

 

Yebin deflated a little. “I can’t ask you to do that,” she spoke softly.

 

“Well you didn’t ask me to and I’m going to anyway,” Minkyung spoke with a playful glint in her eye. She grabbed Yebin’s hand and pulled it, tugging the girl along with her.

 

Yebin shuffled along behind her, whining as she went. “I don’t want you to. I can pay for it.”

 

“It’s too late. I’m buying you a new sweater.” Yebin didn’t protest this time, letting the woman pull her along the walkway. They walked back to the car to drop off Yebin’s sweater and their treats. “We’re already in the shopping district so we can just go there and back.”

 

Yebin narrowed her eyes at Minkyung. “You planned this didn’t you?”

 

Minkyung laughed the girl, lightly petting her head. She grabbed her head in both hands and placed a playful kiss on her hairline. “Yes, I did. I planned for him to spill coffee on you so your sweater would be ruined and you’d be forced to get a new one. You’re right.” She dodged the girl’s attempts at hitting her, running down the way from her.

 

Yebin chased after her for a bit, yelling as she went. They didn’t pay any attention to the stares they got, lost in their own little world.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys did you miss me? It's been too long and I hate that I couldn't get this to you sooner. I was just in a writing slump for a while but because it took me so long to write I had plenty of time to really think about what I wanted for this chapter and to make sure I wrote it in the best way possible. I'm really happy with how this chapter turned out and I hope you guys enjoy it! ^-^

Yebin held up two sweaters, trying to decide which one to purchase.

“Just get them both.”

She turned her head to where Minkyung was leaning against the wall, arms and legs crossed in a way that shouldn’t have been as attractive as it was to Yebin. “I’m not going to get them both. You owe me one sweater.” She held up a finger for emphasis. “I won’t let you spend anymore money on me today.”

Minkyung looked around to make sure no one was looking at them before pushing herself off the wall and slowly walking behind Yebin, her face determined.

“Don’t-” Yebin tried to protest, knowing the effect Minkyung had on her. She was cut off by the taller woman pressing herself into her back. Arms wrapped around her waist, killing any words that tried to come out.

Minkyung tightened her hold as she leaned down. She pressed light kisses along the younger’s neck, slowly moving up to her jawline and even further, until she pressed her lips right below the girl’s ear. “Get them both baby,” she whispered as her lips brushing the girl’s ear. “Let me spoil you.”

Yebin felt fingers softly stroking the skin at her waist. Her head spun a bit at the sensation, overwhelmed by the touch and the affection from the older woman. “Ok,” she mumbled out. She could feel Minkyung smile against her skin before more kisses were placed ever so softly against her neck.

“Good.” Minkyung straightened up, keeping herself pressed against Yebin. She slowly started putting space inbetween them, but kept her arms wrapped loosely around the girl’s waist, rubbing the skin there with her thumbs softly.

Yebin felt hot, too hot. Her skin was burning with every touch from the other. Her vision was a little hazy due to the feeling of bliss from being in the other woman’s arms.

Minkyung turned the girl slightly to see her face better. Her face was slightly cheeky as she spoke softly. “I don’t know if that coffee stain will come out.” She gestured with her head, prompting Yebin to look down. The younger clutched the sweaters to her chest as she barely even looked at her jeans. Minkyung nudged her a bit to get her to look back up. “What about getting some new pants too?”

Yebin nodded slowly and let herself be pulled by the hand gently to the other side of the store. Minkyung gently pulled the garments from the girl’s hands so she could start to browse. The older woman just stood back and watched as Yebin slowly looked through the racks. She only picked up one pair before turning to Minkyung again. She quickly picked out a few more pairs at the woman’s raised eyebrow, knowing she was supposed to get whatever she wanted.

They ended up making their way to the dressing rooms with their arms overflowing with new clothes. Yebin took her time deciding what she really wanted. Minkyung waited patiently outside of the room, leaning against the wall. She smiled to herself hearing the younger girl bustle about in the room and mumble to herself about how good she looked in the new clothes. Her breath caught a little bit when the younger girl stepped out in a pair of jeans that fit like a second skin and a new crop top.

“This is my few favorite outfit. Forget hoodies and leggings because I actually look good for once,” the girl said as she adjusted herself in the mirror on the wall.

Minkyung didn’t hide her wandering eyes. She almost lacked the self restraint to not pin the girl to the mirror right then and there. She swallowed to compose herself. “You always look good, honey.”

Yebin stopped messing with her clothes and turned to the woman. She had a light dusting on her face. “That’s a new one,” she said softly.

Minkyung turned on the wall, facing Yebin with her shoulder against the wall. “You don’t like it?” she asked, challenging.

“I never said that,” the girl shot back, before softening once more and fiddling with her shirt. “It’s just new.” She shyly peeked up at the taller woman before turning her eyes to the floor.

They were silent for a moment as Yebin shuffled in her spot and Minkyung just gazed at the girl. “Is there anything else you want?” the woman softly asked.

Yebin pursed her lips and peeked up once more. “There was a really cute jacket out there,” she said looking in the direction of the door.

Minkyung spoke while chuckling at her. “Then go get it.”

Yebin looked at the woman quickly before smiling and scampering off to grab the garment. She came back with a maroon bomber jacket and put it on to see what it looked like, giggling as it hung off her frame.

Minkyung laughed at how cute the girl was. “Don’t you think it’s a little big on you?”

Yebin pulled the sleeves up a bit so her hands could fit through properly. “I like bigger jackets and hoodies. They’re comfy.”

“It’s almost swallowing you whole. It’s making you look even smaller than your hoodie does,” Minkyung said as she walked to stand behind the girl. They both laughed lightly at that.

“Don’t make fun of me I know I’m short,” Yebin said as she lightly punched the woman’s shoulder.

“You’re the perfect size for me.” Minkyung moved some hair behind the girl’s ear as she spoke. Yebin couldn’t help the blush that rose to her cheeks. They stood in silence, just looking at each other for a bit. Minkyung broke it after a few moments. “Is that all you want? Do you want to look around some more?”

Yebin shook her head. “No this is good for now. Thank you,” she said softly, meeting Minkyung’s eyes in the mirror. They held eye contact for a bit, adding this to their many quiet moments of the day. “I’ll get changed and then we can pay?” She left the question sounding open ended.

“I’ll pay. I already said I would don’t try to convince me otherwise,” Minkyung said sternly without any malice. She kissed the top of Yebin’s head before backing away and letting the girl walk into the dressing room.

Yebin changed quickly and came out of the room, holding the hangers of clothes in one hand and struggling to get her hand through the other sleeve of her shirt- Minkyung’s shirt. Minkyung watched in amusement as Yebin stopped walking to finally adjust her shirt properly. They walked to the counter and Yebin laid the clothes out for the worker to scan and bag. The worker carefully folded each article after scanning them and placed them in a paper sack. Yebin walked a little away browsing the shelves by the cashier, eyeing the small bottles of perfumes and colognes they had displayed there.

“Your total today comes to $1,686. Will you be paying with Debit or Credit?” The cashier looked at Minkyung.

She turned and was relieved that Yebin was out of ear shot to not hear the total. “Credit, please.” She handed her card over and watched as the worker scanned it. She pocketed it again once it was returned to her and grabbed the bag, thanking the worker quickly.

Yebin came back over then, grabbing a hold of Minkyung’s hand smoothly. Minkyung looked down and smiled. “Ready?” At the girl’s nod she guided the two of them back onto the streets. Minkyung swung their hands lightly, relishing in the girl’s laughter as she started following the motions. They walked back down the street towards where they parked. They were quiet for a couple of minutes before Minkyung spoke again. “Is there anything else you want to do while we’re out here? Do you want to go into a few other stores?”

Yebin quickly shook her head. “No,” she said firmly. “This is good enough for today,” she said indicating the bag in Minkyung’s hand.

Minkyung chuckled at the smaller girl, looking straight ahead. Yebin took a moment to look at the taller woman’s side profile. She looked so carefree in that moment. Yebin swore she’s never seen anything more beautiful in her life. “Ok well-” Minkyung was hesitating. “There’s something that I have to do really quick. It should take less than 20 minutes. Are you ok with waiting for a bit?”

Yebin could tell that whatever it is Minkyung needed to do, she couldn’t go with her. “Yeah that’s no problem. I’ll just find somewhere to sit down.”

“Ok. I’ll try to be really quick I promise. Do you want to go get something to drink? Make up for the coffee from earlier?” Minkyung started to fish some money out of her pocket, but stopped when Yebin started shaking her head.

“No I’m good. I’ll just wait.” She smiled sweetly up at the older woman.

Minkyung almost didn’t want to leave after that. “Alright,” she whispered. She leaned in and placed a lingering kiss on the girl’s cheek before turning and walking away. Yebin watched her for as long as she could before she blended in with the people on the street, moving out of sight.

True to her words, Minkyung was back not even 20 minutes later. Yebin noticed she was empty handed. “What were you doing?”

Minkyung just dropped a kiss on top of Yebin’s head. “It’s a surprise. Don’t worry about it.”

Yebin pulled away and looked up at her, her face set. “What did you do?”

Minkyung laughed at the girl. “Nothing.” When the girl didn’t react she laughed harder and grabbed her arms to sooth her. “Yebin it’s nothing I just needed to go get something really quick.”

Yebin looked the woman up and down. “You’re not carrying anything new.”

Minkyung pulled away to grab the bag she left with Yebin. “I already put it in the car.”

Yebin glared at the woman. “Minkyung what did you buy?” she asked through gritted teeth.

Minkyung playfully walked backwards, hands and bag clasped behind her back. She shrugged her shoulders with a look of innocence on her face. “Don’t worry about it.”

Yebin rolled her eyes at the woman and slowly walked after her. It was then that she really looked around for the first time in a while, seeing the sun was beginning to go down. She pulled her phone out to check the time, realizing that she had been out with Minkyung almost all day. “When did it get this late?”

Minkyung noticed the same thing at that time. “I didn’t realize either. I guess I should get you home then. I’ve kept you out almost all day.” She looked sad thinking of having to part with the girl.

Yebin hadn’t even noticed that the sun was starting to go down, indicating just how much they had spent with each other. “Yeah we probably should go.” Yebin knew her face matched Minkyung’s, sad that they had to leave.

Minkyung tightened her grip on Yebin’s hand as they both subconsciously slowed their pace. They reach the car after a short, quiet walk. Minkyung placed the bag in the trunk before opening Yebin’s door for her. Her laughter came out as more of a strong exhale through her nose as the younger girl gingerly got into the car, still wary of how she sat. She rounded the car and got in herself.

There was a strange energy in the car as Minkyung started the drive. Neither of them felt uncomfortable, but they just felt a little different. Minkyung kept one hand on the girl’s thigh the whole way home. If Yebin noticed that she never went above the speed limit and instead stayed steady at each speed, she didn’t mention anything. She wanted to spend as much time with Minkyung as possible so she let the woman drive a little slower to do so. She softly played with Minkyung’s hand, drawing patterns on the back of her hand randomly. It was quiet until the song on the radio changed and Yebin softly started singing along to it. Minkyung glanced over a couple of times, softly smiling at the way the girl was bobbing her head and looking out the window as she sang.

They pulled into Yebin’s complex not long after that. Minkyung turned the car off and sat back in her seat, looking over to meet Yebin’s eyes. The younger girl pouted a bit as she leaned her head back against the headrest. “Do you have to go?”

Minkyung copied the girl’s position. “You’re the one in my car so, technically, you’re the one that has to go.” Yebin pouted at that and slouched in the seat even more. Minkyung reach out and brushed some hair out of the girl’s face, trailing her fingers along her cheek softly. She lingered for a second before reaching down and grabbing the girl’s hand. Her thumb rubbed over Yebin’s knuckles as she asked her a question. “Can I walk you up?”

At Yebin’s nod, they broke apart. Minkyung got out of the car and opened the trunk to retrieve Yebin’s things. Yebin got out herself, feeling a little strange that Minkyung wasn’t there to open her door for her. She gently shut the door and walked around to meet Minkyung. She didn’t get very far before the woman was pulling the trunk down before the girl could see what was in it. She wrapped one arm around the top, almost hugging it. She paused for a moment before speaking, a guilty expression on her face. “So I bought you something.”

“Minkyung!” Yebin looked incredulously at the woman.

“In my defense-” Minkyung stared off, trying to form a good enough excuse. “-you need a new one.”

“A new what?” Yebin was confused what she meant by that. Her confusion was replaced with shock when Minkyung pulled the box out of the trunk and presented it to the girl. The woman held the handle of a brand new Surface Pro out for the girl. Yebin wanted to smack the proud look off of her face.

“I’m not taking that,” Yebin said with her arms crossed.

“Yes you are. Your school work is relying on it.” Yebin didn’t want to admit that the woman was right. She always was.

She pouted as she cutely stomped over to grab the box from Minkyung. She gazed down at the box, lazily holding on to it. “Thank you,” she mumbled as Minkyung was grabbing the girl’s backpack and shopping bag out of the trunk.

Minkyung smiled sweetly at the girl. “You’re welcome.” Yebin knew she was sincere, she could hear it in her voice. Minkyung shut the trunk and gestured to the building. “Your friends have been watching us since we pulled up, by the way.”

Yebin turned to look at her balcony, seeing Eunwoo and Jieqiong leaning on the railing. The duo smiled and waved down at them, looking as innocent as possible. “You two don’t have anything better to do?” Yebin yelled at them as she started to walk toward the front door.

“Nope,” Eunwoo yelled back. Minkyung chuckled loudly as she followed Yebin. “Hey you’re like, her sugar mommy right?”

“Eunwoo!” Yebin yelled up at her. She blushed and looked back at Minkyung only to find the woman laughing at her friend’s words.

“I mean if that’s what you want to call it then I guess,” Minkyung cheekily replied. Eunwoo erupted at that, shaking Jieqiong by the shoulders. Yebin just wanted to die.

They reached the door at that point. Yebin mumbled a quick I hate you under her breath, knowing Minkyung would hear it. They walked up to the second level and stopped in front of Yebin’s door.

“Why do they think I’m your sugar mommy?” Minkyung asked as she passed Yebin’s backpack over to her, handing her the shopping bag once she had it settled on her shoulders.

Yebin blushed at the sudden question. “I don’t know. Maybe because you’re older than I am and you buy my a lot of stuff. Also you never ask for anything in return. Eunwoo’s really weird though she’s probably just being stupid again.” Yebin felt awkward explaining this to Minkyung.

A muffled Hey! came from the other side of the door.

“Eunwoo will you please go away?” Yebin glared at the door as if it was the girl herself.

There was a pause for a moment before Eunwoo responded. “You just want to make out with her!”

Yebin yelled the girl’s name as Minkyung burst out laughing again. Yebin blushed even more and ducked her head, not wanting to look at the taller woman.

Minkyung pointed at the door. “She’s funny.”

Yebin replied with “No she’s not” just as Eunwoo said “Thank you!” Yebin fiddled with the strap of her backpack as she shifted on her feet. Neither of them were sure how to say goodbye. “Um-” the girl started. “Thank you, again, for today.”

Minkyung placed her hands in her pocket and shrugged her shoulders. “Anything for you,” she said softly. Yebin’s face felt like it was on fire. “But uh-” Yebin looked up at the woman. “I know you said I never ask for anything in return, but I’m going to ask for one thing this time.”

Yebin started to panic because of course Minkyung would eventually want something from her to make for all the woman has done for her. “Y-yeah, sure,” she said ducking her head, not knowing how to face her.

Minkyung took a few steps forward, placing herself right in front of Yebin. She reached down for the items in the girl’s hands, taking them from her and setting them to the side. She grabbed the strap of her bag and slid it gently off her shoulder, letting it fall with a thud to the ground. Yebin didn’t have a care in the world about it as the woman placed a hand on her lower back and pulled her into her body. Yebin placed her own hands on the woman’s shoulders. Minkyung reached a hand up and softly stroked the girl’s chin, starting to lean in toward her. “Is this ok?” she whispered.

Yebin didn’t know how to respond, knowing that her words would fail her in that moment. She nodded, trying to look up at Minkyung but going cross eyed. She didn’t have a moment to worry about how silly that must have looked before there were lips on hers and, suddenly, she couldn’t think anymore. A small whimper before she melted against the woman.

As cheesy as it was, everything else disappeared for Yebin. The only thing that mattered was the feeling of Minkyung’s lips on hers. For a few seconds that’s all that seemed to exist, before it all came rushing back to her. She pressed herself into the taller woman more, grabbing her collar in her fists to pull her closer. Minkyung’s hand trailed from her face to her waist. She slipped the hand on Yebin’s back under her shirt, rubbing the smooth skin she found there.

They kissed until their lungs were burning and necks were straining, pulling apart panting. Minkyung didn’t let Yebin get very far before they were kissing again, and again, and again. One of Yebin’s hands slipped up behind the woman’s head, stroking the hairs at the base of her neck.

They eventually calmed down, kissing less frantically. It was innocent, just the pressing of their lips together over and over. They couldn’t seem to get close enough, needing the contact. They finally separated, slowly pulling away with swollen lips and dark eyes. They wanted nothing more than to continue, but the hallway outside of Yebin’s apartment wasn’t the best place for that to happen.

“That was gay!” Both of their heads snapped to the door.

Minkyung looked cautiously at Yebin before looking at the door again. “Were you watching us?” she asked.

Eunwoo paused. “No,” she said defensively.

“Jung Eunwoo I’m going to kill you,” Yebin said, more so to herself.

Minkyung laughed to herself. “She’s so interesting.”

Yebin quirked an eyebrow, saying Right? She moved to open her door, hitting Eunwoo in the process. The girl groaned at the impact, rubbing her shoulder. “Maybe don’t stand right in front of the door?” Yebin suggested. Eunwoo just made a face at Yebin as she walked to sit on the couch.

Minkyung bent to retrieve the girl’s belongings from the ground, handing them to her as she turned around. “I’ll see you later?” she asked quietly. At Yebin’s gentle smile and nod she grinned back. Her smiled dropped a few seconds later, seeming to debate something as she chewed on the inside of her lip. She worked up the resolve to drop one last, quick kiss on the girl’s lip before turning and walking away. She turned back halfway down the hallway to see the girl still standing there, starry look on her face. They laughed to themselves before they both turned away, one down the stairs and one into her apartment.

Yebin shut the doorly gently behind her before walking and placing her things on the chair in her living room. She looked up to see her best friends making kissy faces at each other on the couch. “I hate you both.”

“No you don’t,” Jieqiong responded. “Nice outfit by the way,” she said, nodding at the girl.

“Oh thanks. It’s Minkyung’s.” She pulled the button up away from her body to emphasize. 

“She wears crop tops?” Jieqiong inquired.

“Oh no this is from Siyeon. She’s Minkyung’s-” Yebin hesitated, not really knowing what to call their relationship. “She’s this kid Minkyung knows. I don’t really know how they know each other.” Jieqiong just took that answer and dropped the conversation.

Eunwoo had taken it upon herself to sift through the lot that Yebin had acquired that day. “Damn how much did she get you?” she asked after pulling the clothes out and looking at each item. 

“Too much. She didn’t need to get all of that for me but she doesn’t like to listen when I tell her no.” Yebin took Eunwoo’s place on the couch.

“And she bought you the new Surface? Why are you complaining about this again?” Eunwoo took the box with the device in it and sat down, reading over the details on the back.

“I don’t like feeling I can’t provide for myself. I’ve done it for so long that having someone come in and just give me expensive things for free take a little bit to get used to.” She relaxed onto the couch some more, pulling her feet up to tuck under herself.

“Oh yes. Having a rich, hot, older woman buy you whatever you want must be truly horrible. Please tell us how hard that is.” Eunwoo said, still reading over the box. “Please spare us how spoiled you are though, seeing as how neither me nor Jieqiong have someone gifting us new things. Don’t make us more jealous than we already are.”

Eunwoo looked up at Jieqiong, hoping she would play up the teasing with her. She didn’t expect to see the girl with her eyebrows raised scratching awkwardly at her neck.

“Zhou Jieqiong.” The aforementioned girl looked up then, looking between the two. She smiled oddly, not knowing what to say. “Do you have a sugar mommy?”

Jieqiong chuckled and cleared her throat, shifting uncomfortably. Yebin just looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Do you two remember me telling you about the girl I was seeing?”

Eunwoo’s head almost exploded. “You both have sugar mommies? What the fuck guys?” Eunwoo looked back and forth incredulously between the two. She pointed at Jieqiong as she spoke “You have some explaining to do. I have many questions. First off do either of them have friends that would be willing to be my sugar mommy?”

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: So I know I said I was going to use the spelling Yaebin, but due to popular demand and some feedback from a few readers, I'm changing it to Yebin. Some people wanted me to change it because that's how it's spelled in the ship and I agree so that's the way I'm going to spell it from now on.


End file.
